Cardinal Nycz at the Feast of Thanksgiving: As Christians, we should be able to forgive

The Metropolitan of Warsaw reminded that this year's thanksgiving is offered for Saint John Paul II and his pontificate and for Blessed Father Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski, the patron of scouts and martyr of Dachau. The 16th Feast of Thanksgiving is being celebrated under the motto: "We thank for peacemakers".

Cardinal. Nycz emphasized that we want to entrust to God all matters concerning the life of the Church, Poland, and all personal matters. "The main intention of the Feast of Thanksgiving this year is to pray for a just peace in Ukraine, as well as among us, in our homeland and our hearts. Mutual forgiveness is necessary. As Christians, we should be able to forgive," he said.

At the beginning of the Holy Mass, Cardinal Nycz blessed an 8.5-meter sculpture of the Resurrected Christ, which is the main element of the altar wall of the Shrine of Divine Providence. The implementation of this project was entrusted to Prof. Adam Myjak and a team of artists associated with the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts.

The homily was delivered by Bishop Sławomir Oder, bishop of Gliwice, who pointed out that the context of this year's thanksgiving is special. "The war in Ukraine continues and, although the efforts of people of goodwill to put an end to it continue, the possibility of achieving peace seems to be far away," he said. "In our social life, we experience deep divisions and conflicts that deprive our hearts of peace and joy in enjoying what we have achieved as a society and what should rightly be the object of our pride and gratitude," he added.

"That is why it is so important to turn our gaze to the Lord, the giver of true peace. He speaks to us through his Word, through the truth of the Gospel but also through the lives of those who made the Gospel the rule of their own lives and believed in the Word of the Lord," Bishop Oder stressed.

The Ordinary of Gliwice noted that "the Eucharist urges us to adopt an attitude of gratitude, to cooperate with grace, and give our life a Eucharistic dimension. The Eucharist draws us into the dynamism of love of the Most Holy Trinity. This love motivates us to put in the effort to incorporate it into our everyday lives. It is the way to build reconciliation and peace."

"Let us ask through the intercession of St. John Paul II and Blessed Fr. Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski, that we too may be able to perceive our world not only as difficult, full of uncertainty and threats, but that we learn and know how to accept it as an opportunity, as an occasion to be collaborators of Divine Mercy in the world," Bishop Oder said. "Let us allow God to build the edifice of our lives. May it too, formed in the school of the Eucharist, become an instrument of peace and reconciliation," he encouraged.

Press Office of the Polish Bishops’ Conference

Translated by Sr. Amata Nowaszewska / Office for Foreign Communication of the Polish Bishops’ Conference