On Thursday, April 24, a monthly Holy Mass was held for the Fatherland, held according to the teaching of Cardinal August Hlond. As all month, after the Eucharist there was a meeting, the main point of which this time was the screening of the movie "Give Me the Soul, Take The Rest". This movie depicts the life of Cardinal August Hlond – 1 of the most prominent figures of the Polish Church of the 20th century – in hard historical historical periods for our Homeland.
Cardinal August Hlond (1881–1948) was a Salesian, the first bishop of Katowice, the primate of Poland, as well as a relentless defender of religion and national identity. After the outbreak of planet War II, at the request of the government, he left Poland to avoid arrest by the Germans and to be able to act for the Polish origin on the global stage. Throughout the war, he advocated Polish interests and supported refugees and migrants. Nevertheless, he was interned by the Germans, and his life was saved by intervention of the Holy See. After the war, he returned to the country, becoming almost automatically an enemy of the fresh communist regime.
As a primate, Cardinal Hlond was the author of many shepherd letters, which inactive stay a spiritual signpost for Poles. Among the most crucial papers of his teaching are "About Christian Principles of State Life" or "About Catholic Morality". His imagination of Poland – strong, just and social – is expressed in the slogan: "Not on the left, not on the right, but on the top", he inactive touches the hearts of many believers.
The movie “Give Me the Soul, Take The Rest” is simply a moving documentary showing the life and activities of Cardinal August Hlond, a prominent shepherd of the Church and a statesman whose life has come to 1 of the most hard periods in Poland's history.
Production presents not only the cardinal's spiritual path, but besides his unbreakable attitude towards the totalitarianisms of the 20th century: Nazi and Communist. Shows his conflict to preserve faith, national identity and human dignity in times of top trials. The movie brings not only historical facts but besides the spiritual heritage of the cards in an accessible and touching way. Hlonda, who remains an authority and guide to believers today.
The title words "Give me the soul, take the rest" reflect the cardinal's spiritual attitude, ready to give everything in the interests of the salvation of human souls. The movie inspires reflection on values that build real social and national life, based on faith, freedom and solidarity.
For more than 2 years now, the “Polish Newspapers” Club in Tychy and the Association “Family and Identity” have organised monthly Holy Masses according to the teaching of cardinals. Hlonda and meetings during which Christian principles of public life are considered. 1 crucial component of the monthly Holy Mass is the prayer for the imminent beatification of Cardinal August Hlond.
During the meeting, respective quotations from the Cardinal's teaching were quoted, which show the actuality of his thoughts:
‘The state cannot be atheistic. In the Bolshevik system, the benefit of the Bolshevik strategy is its only holiness and the only law. With respect to Bolshevikism, everything is judged. A man there must halt being a man otherwise he would not fit in Bolshevikism. So no another explanation has caused an animal as shamelessly in man as Bolshevism. No another has so profoundly broken human dignity and no has killed specified barbarous humanity in man. no has perverted human nature as much as Bolshevikism.”
"We do not want Poland of this party, we want Poland liberated from divisions, we want Poland, which would be the Republic of all. Ours, not 1 clan. Poland is not left, it is not right, it is not noble, it is anti-Nobility, it is not folk, it is peasant, it is working – it is Social, that is, as we already call it "Rzeczpospolita". Not Polish parties and parties. Not Poland would have done anything from it, everyone wanted, but it would make citizens gain their own money.”
"The government is not to be reached for and won like a prey in interior battles. Government doesn't win. Government cannot be the subject of hunger for power and manger. Power should not corrupt those who exercise it, not make thieves, murderers, oppressors, but rise them morally to regulation and not to reign. That they were the head of the state, not his “Lords.” To service the Nation and not to exploit Him.”
At the end of the meeting, the participants gave cordial birthday wishes to Fr Adam Pukocz, the parish priest of the Holy Family, singing conventional “We wish, we wish! And health, and happiness, and blessing through the hands of Mary."
We invitation all to meet together the character of Cardinal August Hlond – a man of large religion and love for the Homeland – be with us. Another interesting gathering is coming soon.
