This is the sermon preached on the Feast of the Assumption (Aug.15, 1998) by Fr. Edward Wesolek of the Society of Saint Pius X, Poland, at the Mass celebrated at the Zwirowisko gravel pit in the Auschwitz death camp.

DEAR Brothers and Sisters in Christ the Lord! Today we fight for the Cross, the most significant symbol of our Catholic Faith. The cross became the main symbol of Christianity as early as the beginning of the fourth century as a result of two miraculous events. The first was when Constantine the Great, during a campaign in 312 [the Battle of Milvian Bridge-Ed.], saw in the sky a luminous cross together with the words, "In hoc signo vinces (In this sign you will conquer)." The second event was in the year 326 when the mother of Constantine, St. Helena, discovered the Holy Wood of our Lord's Cross. It was proven to her to be the authentic True Cross by means of a miraculous recovery from death [of a bystander who touched this Wood]. The Feast of St. Helena is only three days off, on August 18!

As a result of these two events, the persecutions of the previous 300 years ended and Christianity became the religion of the State. The cross, the instrument for the punishment of criminals which had been to that time a sign of shame and ignominy, became the sacred symbol of the Passion of our Divine Lord Jesus Christ. In these miraculous ways, God revealed to us His will that the cross-that on which His Son had been crucified-would be understood everywhere as the symbol of the whole Faith.

The Holy Scriptures also foretell to us that the cross will become a symbol of the Faith: "...and for a sign which shall be contradicted" (Lk. 2:34). Christ says, "And whosoever cloth not carry his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple" (Lk. 14:27). St. Paul in his Letter to Corinthians notices: "For the word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God" (I Cor. 1:18). Later, he adds: "But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness: But unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:23,24).

It is a fact that the Jews find the cross in Auschwitz a stumbling block. They say that they cannot pray near it and that it throws a shadow across the compound. Jewish leaders even called the cross a "fetish." What is more disturbing, however, is that some of the Catholic faithful seem to have succumbed to the false assertion that, "We have our God and the Jews have one of their own. We pray in our way and the Jews pray in their own way. Everybody has a right to their own religious symbols....etc." To believe like this is a great betrayal of God because the Catholic Faith is not a question of personal preference, as though one prefers going up into the mountains and the other down to the sea. There are no two Gods-the Christian God and the Jewish God. There is only one God and one objective Truth concerning the Faith. The one true God revealed Himself first to the "Chosen People" and then came to earth as the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Who has revealed to us the whole truth, including most importantly, the Way. I emphasize these words because this is how God wants to be revered!

The most significant of His wishes is contained in the words Christ spoke at the Last Supper: "Do this for a commemoration of Me" (Lk. 22:19). These words denote the Holy Mass. The Jews, as all know very well, do not accept the Mass and therefore they do not fulfil the will of God. Christ clearly said to the Apostles: "Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Mt. 28:19). This admonition includes the Jewish nation!

It is apparent that the Jews consider themselves to be a special nation to whom the above admonition is not directed, so they continue to await the coming of their "Messiah" who is other than Christ. However, the following words of St. Peter deny the possibility of such a belief: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Indeed, the Jews had been the "Chosen People," but the guilt they called upon themselves at the time of the Crucifixion signified their refusal to accept Christ as the true Messiah. Therefore, all titles given to the dews in the Old Testament now refer exclusively to the Christians. St. Peter says to his flock: "But you are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people" (I Pet. 2:9). And St. Paul asks in the Letter to the Romans: "Thou wilt say then: The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in Well; because of unbelief they were broken off" (Rom. 11 :19,20), and leaves no doubt in the Letter to Philippians: "For we are the circumcision" (Phil. 3:3).

I guarantee to you, dear brothers and sisters, that none of those Jews who died in Auschwitz saw a "Jewish God." [At their death] each of them without a single exception stood in front of the crucified Christ. Only God Himself knows which of these people is saved. What is absolutely sure is that our prayers can help them [in this life to recognize Christ as their Saviour]....It is also the reason why we should pray for the salvation of the souls of those Jews who died in this camp. I guarantee to you that this is also the desire of any of these souls which might be suffering in purgatory. Each of our prayers and each of our Holy Masses is a source of relief to them.

I cannot continue without mentioning the tragedy that happened here five years ago. It was then that our beloved Carmelite nuns, who were living lives here of prayer and sacrifice for the souls of the victims of Auschwitz and their murderers, were brutally removed from this place, from their convent. Judge for yourselves what effect this event has had upon the souls in purgatory! Afterwards, the Jews wrote: "It is not we who removed the nuns. We have only asked the Holy Father and it was he who made a free decision." We cannot disagree with this claim. It is true the Holy Father has a sovereign power to decide as he wishes in the matter. He could have said: "The nuns will stay in Auschwitz." He still can say, "The nuns will come back to Auschwitz." We do not know the reason why the Holy Father made the decision to relocate the Carmelites. Maybe he had supposed that [by appeasing the Jews l he would solve all the foreseen problems. Today we can see that he wasn't right.

The Jewish demands have not ended. They have expressed their wishes to remove the "papal cross," to close the surrounding Catholic churches, to relocate the families from the homes surrounding the compound. All of this causes Catholics to go on the defensive because the prayers for salvation of souls remembered here will be replaced by fruitless silence.

Nobody knows what exactly would satisfy the Jewish demands, nor is there consensus even among themselves what they want. It is supposed by some that the looming "papal cross" could be replaced with a less conspicuous tombstone engraved with the sign of cross. Yet, according to the Reuters News Service, Yad Vashem (Aug. 2, 1998) stated: "It was agreed that a tombstone would not be erected." A similar confusion regards the local Catholic churches. Rabbi Joskowicz from Poland says that the cross must be removed because the Catholics have many places to pray in the surrounding churches, while Rabbi Weiss from New York demands the demolition of the Catholic church in Brzezinka near Auschwitz. Kalman Sultanik, Vice President of the World Jewish Congress, demanded (June 4, 1998) the camp be internationalised, declared extra-territorial and annexed from Polish territory.

There are no chances for agreement nor opportunities for dialogue. Some Jews are publicly accusing their fellow Jews for falsely speaking on behalf of the whole Jewish society. It becomes clear that their only chance for establishing unity among themselves will be with the Common Representative Whom they crucified. The policy of accepting Jewish demands concerning the expulsion of the Carmelites has not brought any fruits of peace. Therefore, instead of asking: "When will the crosses be removed?" we are asking today: "When will the Carmelite nuns be allowed to return to their convent in Auschwitz?" When the Carmelites were here, there was peace!

In fighting for the cross we do not only fight for a piece of wood or for the place at which it has been erected. This fight is primarily concerned with the defence of our Catholic Faith and our national identity which has always defended this Faith. The Holy Father once said, "Everybody has his own Westerplatte." [Westerplatte is a peninsula of Poland into the Baltic Sea where a decisive WWII battle was fought.-Ang. Ed.] Now, here at Auschwitz, we have our Polish Catholic Westerplatte! Some people say that we should stop our fight in order that peace might be achieved. Can we accept that? What does Christ say?-"Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation. For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three" (Lk. 12:51,52). The modernists do not like this quote from the Gospel. In it Christ makes a distinction between the false "peace" as understood by the world and true peace: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you" (Jn. 14:27). True peace is the peace of the soul, a freedom from sin which in inimical to that peace. In the name of this peace we have to fight for the Faith. We will not accept a false world peace which is achieved at the expense of excluding Christ and our Catholic Faith.

If we fail to save this place, "...then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain" (1 Cor. 15:14). What has happened to the societies of the West will happen to us: loss of morals, empty churches, religious disinterest, removal of God from homes, schools, and public life. We are not alone in this fight. Sixty-six percent of those polled by the Polish Press Agency (July 31, 1998) favour leaving all the crosses here. It is disheartening, however, that few priests and bishops of Poland openly guard these crosses, and some of them even want to remove them. It is obvious that laymen are guarding the Church and the Faith more than those who have the vocation to do so. Such a situation reminds me of the prophetic words of St. Paul: "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you let him be anathema" (Gal 1:8). However, the Catholic Church cannot exist without the bishops and the priests: "I say to you, that if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out" (Lk. 19:40). These stones today are the faithful laymen of the Catholic Church!

Dear faithful, where are our shepherds? What does Bishop Tadeusz Rakoczy, our local ordinary, say? When asked whether he believed the "papal cross" should be removed, he replied, "Obviously, it should!" Present at this press conference were the guardians of the cross. Attempting to get more details from Bishop Rakoczy, they asked the following: "Why have crosses from Brzezinka been removed at night?" His Excellency replied, "I'm not talking with you."...

The Catholic Church has survived several crises in its history. There was the Arian heresy in the fourth century whose adherents included the pope of the time and over 80% of the episcopacy. During this emergency situation, Bishop Eusebius of Samosata consecrated bishops in opposition to the will of the Pope, placing these bishops in the destroyed dioceses. There was the Eastern Schism. There was a danger of the Western Schism. There was a crisis at the time of the Reformation.

The more recent crisis called Modernism came to the surface starting at the end of 19th and the beginning of 20th century. To deal with it, the merciful God sent to us a great pope, Pope St. Pius X This Pope, the only canonized pope since the middle of the 16th century, saw the danger of a crisis in our time and made an attempt to protect the Church against it. His motto was "Instaurare Omnia in Christo"-"to restore all things in Christ." In the most important of his encyclicals, Pascendi Gregis, he warned us against the dangers stirring within the Church and the creeping Modernism infecting it. The saintly Pope's warnings managed to protect us for a time, but its dangers returned more powerfully some 50 years later.

Here is only one little example. Thirty years ago, rebel priests and bishops in the West opposed the express will of Pope Paul VI and imposed giving Communion in the hand. At the time, this was regarded as a profanation of the Blessed Sacrament. Nevertheless, this harmful practice spread unchallenged. In the last few weeks several articles have appeared in the Polish Catholic weekly, Tygodnik Powszechay, supporting the imposition of Communion in the hand in all of Poland. An experiment to do this is under consideration in the diocese of Archbishop Joseph Zycinski.

The same members of the Polish hierarchy who are crying out against these crosses are the same ones supporting the imposition of Communion in the hand! Falsely citing history to defend their novelty, they say Communion in the hand "was a practice of the primitive age of Christianity." While that is not absolutely correct without qualification, if we accept their argument, are the same pseudo-historians ready to say: "The cross is to be removed because that was a practice of the ancient times"?...

Our fight for the cross is closely related to our belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, which is the most characteristic distinction between the Catholic Faith and all the false denominations of Christianity. Both are immemorial traditions of the Catholic Church present since its institution by our Divine Lord.

The late Mother Theresa of Calcutta was aware of the crime of Communion in the hand and once said, "Communion in the hand is even worse than abortion." Those who support Communion in the hand say, "The hand is no less worthy than the tongue." Brothers and sisters in Christ, neither hand, nor tongue, nor the whole man is worthy enough to receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and divinity of Christ. "Domine, non sum dignus"-"Lord, I am not worthy to receive Thee," but I do only because Thou hast commanded me to do so!

Thirty years ago, a great tragedy occurred. At that time, a new rite of the Holy Mass of the Catholic Church was introduced - the so-called Novus Ordo Missae. The Mass being celebrated here today is the Tridentine Mass-the Latin Mass-which was obligatory before the introduction of the New Mass and which has never been abrogated.

Those of you who are older still remember this Mass. It is exactly the same Mass which was celebrated by St. Maximilian Kolbe and all the priests who celebrated it secretly in this camp. The New Mass, on the other hand, has lost its sacrificial character. The priest is now turned towards thecongregation rather than towards God. The universality of the Latin language, thanks to which everybody could assist easily at Mass anywhere in the world, which was itself a symbol of the unity of the whole Church, has been replaced with the local vernacular. And what is more important, a multitude of prayers have been replaced with ambiguous statements that do not fully express the Catholic Faith....

It is not a secret that the imposition of the New Mass has been followed by a decrease of faith, in the Western countries first and spreading into the East as well.

For example, who today remembers that the Mass is primarily the same Sacrifice as that of Christ on the Cross? Priests do not wear their cassocks anymore and lead a "normal" life, that is, a worldly life. The number of religious vocations is down. Turning the priest towards the congregation reflects a theology turned upside-down as well-from God towards man, to the rights of man in denial of the rights of God, towards the "dignity of the human person."...By introducing the vernacular, the Masses have lost their uniformity and started to evolve according to the creative imagination of local priests. These Masses are little more than cheap theatrical entertainment and have nothing to do with the sacrificial character of the Mass. Our primary way of saving the Faith is to defend the Mass that has been celebrated by all the saints, or at which all the saints assisted, rather than that Mass by which nobody has been canonized.

Yesterday evening in Chorzow the Rolling Stones staged a concert. In its nearly 40 years, this rock group has earned a reputation for its evil influence upon youth. The members of this group are proud of their adultery, of drug use, rebellion, and its flouting of moral restraint. It is more than a coincidence that the concert was only 45 miles from the sanctuary of Our Lady of Czestochowa, and that the date of the concert fell on the same date as the conclusion of the famous pilgrimage to this church. Did our bishops say even the slightest thing about this [immoral rock group] or warn our young people to not attend? No! Instead they prefer to busy themselves bending over backwards to satisfy Jewish demands [to remove the crosses]. Further, they accuse us of indignity in our fight to preserve the crosses and call us the enemies of the Church, while [at the Rolling Stone; concert] thousands of young souls may lose the Faith forever!

Today is not only the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, but also the 78 th anniversary of the famous Battle of Warsaw (1920) at which the "Miracle of the Vistula River" helped our Polish countrymen defeat the Russian communists. Seventy-eight years ago today the cross saved Poland from the flood of red apostasy, thanks to the Blessed Virgin Mother, on the day of Her Assumption, who interceded then before God to save this nation so faithful to her.As we leave in the past, let us today pray to her and plead to her. Let us not become a materialistic nation full of religious ignorance and indifference, a vane society that has forgotten about the primary objective of our existence on earth, about the God that is the origin and the goal of everything. Let us pray to be made strong enough to endure this earthly pilgrimage so we may someday hear these words: "Well done, good and faithful servant: … enter thou into the joy of thy Lord" (Mt. 25:23). Amen.