© Andrzej Banaś, Kraków, Poland
John Paul II to a group of pilgrims from Poland (December 23, 1996)
Tomorrow at midnight, this Christmas carol will ring out all over Poland: “In the deep night a voice resounds: Come, Shepherds, God is born for you! Hasten to Bethlehem to greet the Lord”. What the carol 'In the deep night' (Wśród nocnej ciszy) expressed as a story, the wonderful carol 'God is born' (Bóg się rodzi), written by the poet Franciszek Karpiński, transforms into mystagogy, into a hymn that brings us into the mystery. (...) “The Infinite is encompassed. Scorned, yet clothed with glory, the mortal King of the ages!”.
I remember the Polish churches where the sound of the sublime melodies reechoes, full of joy and sometimes full of melancholy, touching in tone and content, telling of the profound truths connected with the event and mystery of the birth of God's Son. (...) These Christmas carols not only belong to our history; in a certain sense, they form our national and Christian history. They are many and of considerable spiritual richness. I remember, for example, the so-called Christmas carol of the mountain people which we so love to hear: 'O little one, little one' (Oj Maluśki, Maluśki.)
We must not lose this treasure. That is why, as I break the Christmas wafer with you, I hope that all of you, dear compatriots, whether in our homeland or here in Rome or anywhere in the world, may sing these Christmas carols, meditating on what they say, on their content, and that in them you may discover the truth about the love of God who became man for us.
Lastly, I wish to return once more to the carol 'God is born', to conclude by addressing a fervent prayer to the newborn Jesus: “Raise your hand, divine Child! Bless our dear country with good counsel and well-being. Sustain her strength with your own. Bless our home, our fields, and all the villages and towns. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”.
