Complementing the presence of St. Pio’s relics has been the journey of relics of three Polish saints of the 20th century – St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Pope John Paul II. On Aug. 18, they were hosted by St. Junipero Serra Parish, with a Mass in the Seaside Heights worship site of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church.
“These three contemporary Polish saints entrusted their whole lives to the Immaculate Mother of God and provide for us the clear glimpse of the life of heaven,” said Conventual Franciscan Father Jobe Abbass, who accompanied the relics on their pilgrimage, and who served as homilist for the Mass.
PHOTO GALLERY: Contemporary Saints of Poland in Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Seaside Heights
As delegate for the Marian Apostolate of Our Lady of the Angels Province, over the course of four years Father Abbass is bringing the three saints’ relics to the 50 parishes and ministry sites of the Province to promote devotion to the Immaculate Mother of God.
Faithful line up in Seaside Heights’ Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church Aug. 18 to venerate the relics of Polish saints Pope John Paul II, Maria Faustina Kowalska and Maximilian Kolbe. John Batkowski photo
Father Abbass presented a brief history of each of the three Polish saints, noting their particular relationship to the Blessed Mother.
“Throughout all of his life, Father Kolbe had devoted himself to the Immaculate Heart of God entrusting himself to the hands of Mary,” he said of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who offered his life in a Nazi concentration camp in place of a fellow prisoner. “That is, to the furthest extreme, showing love for neighbor.”
St. Faustina, he noted, although most famous for revelations of God’s Divine Mercy and witnessing apparitions of Jesus, “has in her diary 22 visions of, or conversations with, the Blessed Mother … Faustina is speaking to Jesus, saying, ‘I have trouble in one area of my spiritual life.’ And Jesus says, ‘My dear, if you’re having trouble in that area, why don’t you go to my mother?’”
St. John Paul II, took as his motto “Totus Tuus” or “All Yours,” referring to the Blessed Mother, with a stylized M on his coat of arms. Having lost his own mother at a young age, Father Abbass said, he became very attached to Mary.
“Like most Poles, John Paul II had a filial devotion to Our Lady of Czestochowa,” he explained. “And in his first visit to the shrine, Pope John Paul II invoked St. Maximilian when he said, ‘As she, Mary, won the good St. Maximilian, so shall she win in you, the reverence of Poland.’ And of course, this would strengthen the nation’s quest for freedom from communism, and their ultimate triumph with Mary’s help.”
“Showcasing the relics of these saints helps us to draw closer to and imitate the enduring example of their lives leading to Christ,” Father Abbass noted.
Praying with saints’ relics offers consolation, hope to faithful