I will never forget this prayer. On my knees, shaken, I began the “Our Father”, the “Hail Mary”. They cried, they howled in pain, they couldn’t speak, but they wanted me to pray. And, it was only when I started the “Chaplet of Divine Mercy” – the chaplet calmed them down, that they stopped crying. And, then I said to them: “You are my friends. I will do anything for you. I will meet with the general. I will fight for your freedom. Do not curse. Pray. Read the Word of God.” They replied: – “yes! We can do it!” They believed these words. And, indeed it was. I was sent to Cameroon. I traveled on a government plane to Congo Brazaville. The President of the Congo was the negotiator on our case. And, there on the plane I met the head of the rebellion, who got out of prison. I said: “You’re the boss. You are more than the boss; you are like a father to the rebels. They respect you a lot. All it takes is one phone call to free the prisoners. Prisoners are crying, they are sick and greatly suffering. Please free them!” The head of the rebellion said: “Tomorrow we will call them and you will tell them that they are free.” He took my hand and said – “forgive me, forgive my people for the suffering they have caused you” …. A very difficult moment. I responded: “I have forgiven you, the most important are those people.” The next day, the head of the rebellion in my presence called and gave orders to release the remaining prisoners. Four days after my release, they were all released. It ended like in an American movie… Everything ended happily.
Dear ones, why am I saying this…? Because we often talk about praying for missionaries, about praying for priests. I want to tell you today that this prayer is working! This prayer makes sense! I am ALIVE! – precisely with an accent on the alive, an example of the fact that this prayer works, because I have been in captivity for so long. Many people prayed for me. In Poland, this captivity was publicized. And miracles happened! The first miracle was that I myself accepted slavery. Another miracle was that the rebels, who did not want to agree to any packages, agreed to receive drinking water, medicine. I was sick, I had malaria. If I didn’t have these medicines, I wouldn’t be here today. Another miracle was that this captivity was complicated, because no one wanted to release the general, not the president of Cameroon, not the president of Central Africa, because he was the head of the rebellion that threatened everyone. Only the President of the Congo, who appeared, who took the general under his protection, it was also a miracle that the rebels agreed to it; because earlier they wanted their general to return to the forest to their base in the Central African Republic.
Yet another miracle was that the rebels allowed shipments of extras. I got things for Mass. I could pray. Every day on my knees in a tarpaulin tent I celebrated Holy Mass. I preached the Word of God. It was my strength and great strength for the other prisoners.
