Liturgical Readings: Nm 13:1–2a, 25–14:1, 26–30, 34–35; Jn 2:1–11

1. Gratitude, that noble quality of the faithful, has gathered us today in the Royal City of Knin for the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the liberation of our homeland, when a large part of Croatian territory was returned to its internationally recognized borders.
In this Church of Our Lady of the Great Croatian Baptismal Vow, dedicated yesterday by the host Diocesan Bishop of Šibenik, Msgr. Ante Ivas, we stand before God and bring him not only our personal histories but also the history that transcends us all, the history of the Croatian nation and our Croatian homeland.
Here in Knin, our past and present converge, our ecclesial and national identities intertwine. Here are the deep roots of our Christian identity. From here we can see the defining moments in the progress of the Croatian nation through history. However, we are primarily here to thank God and the Croatian defenders for our free homeland.
Here in Knin, prayer for the homeland, so needed at this time in our national history, has powerful significance, as evidenced by the presence of the Croatian bishops, who regard the unity of the Croatian faithful as an important priority. Today in Knin, we witness a degree of unity that has not been manifested for a long time.

2. In the heart of today’s Word of the Lord is trust in the Lord; trust that we encounter in this church of the Mother of God, Mother of Our Savior and Our Mother, whom we call Our Lady of the Great Croatian Baptismal Vow, and thereby let it be known that Mary is fundamental to our faith, our commitment, loyalty and thanksgiving to God, both as individuals and as the nation as a whole.
It is precisely trust in God that is the source of our comfort, hopes and genuine human happiness. In this sense, the proclamation of the Word of God helps us to connect our trust in God with joy, in contrast to the lack of trust in God and rejection of His will, which leads to despair.
The Book of Numbers tells us about the Chosen People in the desert, who sent men to scout the land promised to them by God. The men returned after they had observed it for forty days. They described what they saw in words that became proverbial: “a land flowing with milk and honey.” They testified that the prerequisites for a good daily life were present.
However, they also encountered obstacles in the land, which frightened them: great fortifications and fierce people. This was the reason for their reluctance and discouragement. They dissuaded the people from entering the country and spread doubts that the land could be theirs. They doubted God and his promises, they lost the sense of confidence that had bolstered them. Their initial enthusiasm and joy subsided in the face of difficulties. Therefore, God punished their rebellion, resistance to his plan and infidelity.
In today’s Gospel, we also encountered the relationships between joys and difficulties, joys and confidence. We are familiar with this Gospel passage. During a wedding feast, the wine ran out. A threat of embarrassment loomed over the joy of the newlyweds’ celebration. However, Mary was present, both as part of the celebration and someone who recognized the needs of others. Owing to her confidence, faith and intercession, the newlyweds’ joy was unsullied.

3. Dear faithful, we came to this city today with trust in God. Today, Knin is a pilgrim city and this church is a shrine of homeland thanksgiving. With the infallible eyes of the soul, we have scrutinized our history, cognizant of the circumstances that brought us to this point. We remember and bear witness here, before God, that it was in Knin, during the first days of the month of August 1995, that the gate was symbolically unlocked through which the Croatian homeland was liberated. Croatian soldiers and police then entered Knin, with their spouses, children, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, families, the cities from Vukovar to Dubrovnik, and the entire nation bound up in their hearts. Today, we as the Church have proudly come to Knin with all of them bound up in our hearts, in order to thank God for the gift of freedom. We are the heirs of peace. Today we thank God for all the living who made this possible. We also pray for all those who wove their lives into the impermeable fabric of our freedom.
From our hearts, we gratefully pray to God for all who perished and the fallen Croatian defenders, sons and daughters of Our Beautiful Homeland, who gave us the taste of peace under the leadership of the first Croatian president, Franjo Tuđman, during the mandate of the precious spiritual authority of the Croatian people, the Servant of God Cardinal Franjo Kuharić. Here, with particular reverence, I also mention the late Bishop of Šibenik, Srećko Badurina, a committed peacemaker.
As believers, we know that nothing in life is by chance. If during the Homeland War the Croatian faithful entrusted themselves to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as the Croatian soldiers did in a special way, with rosaries in their hands, was it possible that this magnificent victory would not take place on her feast day? Mary interceded in Jesus’ first miracle, which took place in Cana of Galilee, and we know that her intercession, the protection of Our Lady of the Snows, was crucial in the miracle of Croatian defense and liberation.

4. Brothers and sisters, today we peacefully celebrate Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day, Croatian Veterans’ Day, because even the august international institutions have confirmed that the liberation of Croatia was the honorable mission of Croatian soldiers and the sole motive of the Croatian state was the establishment of a just peace. It is sufficient to glance at the data about those who defended and liberated Croatia in order to understand that Croatian freedom is not the fruit of national or religious exclusivity. The military/police Operation Storm marked the end of the war in Croatia, facilitated the peaceful reintegration of the remaining occupied Croatian territory and brought a harbinger of peace to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It is difficult to say when Croats were happier than twenty years, ago, when the homeland was liberated. For this joy, we have come to thank God because we are witnesses to events that would not be interpretable without God’s presence and help. Some will talk about the surprising course of circumstances, the expertly executed campaign, while we see the miracle of liberation achieved by valiant people who were filled with trust in God.

5. Therefore, how is it possible today for anyone to accuse Croatia of expulsion, known as “ethnic cleansing,” when it was precisely Croats and members of the non-Serbian population who were expelled from this occupied territory in 1991, forced to abandon their homes and everything they possessed. Many were also executed. In this territory, 68 Catholic parishes were devastated and approximately 100,000 Catholics were exiled. After the liberation in August 1995, in these parishes we encountered devastation and discovered homes of our faithful that had been destroyed and burned, desecrated and demolished Catholic churches, chapels and cemeteries—the trampled testimony of our millennium of Catholic life here. We may say that some of those accusing others today previously advocated the methods for such ethnic cleansing, remained silent when they could have and should have spoken, or even participated.
When the military campaign began, although the Croatian authorities repeatedly urged the Serbian population in the area, which numbered approximately 160,000 according to the 1991 census, to remain peacefully in their homeland, guaranteed them all human and civil rights and asked them to lay down their arms, the Serbian population nevertheless fled, taking their belongings with them.
In an address delivered in October 1995, Cardinal Franjo Kuharić explained the behavior of the Serbian population as follows:
“We believe that there are three important reasons:
1. They were so indoctrinated by the idea of Greater Serbia that they would not under any circumstances accept the reality of the state of Croatia in order to live in it as fully enfranchised citizens.
2. Their authorities gave the order for them to leave. Serbian Orthodox Bishop Longin, who was in Knin, said a little more than a month before Operation Storm that he would urge the Serbian people to leave Croatia if Croatia attacked the so-called Krajina [the self-proclaimed parastate within the Republic of Croatia during the Croatian War of Independence, 1991–1995].
3. The third reason was a sense of guilt. Many had participated in the looting, burning and destruction of Croatian houses, as well as in the demolition of Catholic churches and properties. Someone who had burned down the house of his neighbor or killed a member of his neighbor’s family would not have the courage to face that neighbor when he returned from exile.”
(Address by Cardinal Franjo Kuharić in the Vatican on October 17, 1995, at a meeting of bishops from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia and Macedonia with Pope John Paul II and members of the Roman Curia, in The Wounded Church in Croatia, Zagreb, 1996, p. 13).

6. Brothers and sisters, war is a great evil and always leaves grave consequences, both spiritual and material. We believe that many Croatian citizens of Serbian nationality did not abandon their homes of their own volition. Our Church appealed to Croatian refugees and other citizens not to fall into the temptations of hatred and vengeance. Unfortunately, after the military/police campaign there were instances of the looting and burning of Serbian houses, as well as casualties. This must be lamented. With human and Christian piety, today we commemorate all the victims of the war of the 1990s in Croatian territories and, as believers, we pray for the repose of their souls.
We yearned for freedom and—after decades of totalitarianism—although we genuinely sought peace and were prepared for reconciliation and forgiveness. We felt the force of evil that lacked any regard for or measure of humanity. This powerful evil and the promoters of evil did not care about the people, neither Croatian nor Serbian, in Croatia.

7. Dear faithful, what were we actually seeking? To stop the violence, wipe away the tears, to make it possible for people to return to their homes, for the rights of our nation to be recognized as those of other nations, for the referendum of the democratic manifestation of the will of the Croatian citizens for the state of Croatia to be respected. Even today, it may seem to us that some things went in the wrong direction after the liberation, that action should have been taken earlier in order to prevent evil from becoming stronger. We need to ask ourselves where we have been unfaithful to God. How far have we distanced ourselves from him and not been humble enough? Where should we have testified to our faith in him but failed to do so?
Future generations will study the military/police campaign Operation Storm from various aspects, starting with military analysts. We are grateful to God that it was a harbinger of peace in these regions. It effectively stopped the manifestation of the imperialistic military ideologies, for which the Yugoslav state served to achieve their goals. This occurred during the final decade of the twentieth century, a century when state policy was marked by the Yugoslav political entity, which generated tensions between Croats and Serbs in Croatian territories during all the stages of its existence. We should like to believe that this period of Croatian history has ended.

8. Today, Croatia is in a new period of its history in the modern union of European countries. It is necessary to be open to the new challenges of European society while, at the same time, safeguarding and promoting Croatian identity and unity, which has emerged as the fruit of Croatian defense, courage and the wisdom of many. We are not thinking only of people in the most responsible positions, to whom we certainly owe our gratitude, but also the simple people who were largely shaped by prayer and the values of faith, people who have been tested by suffering.
In the 1990s, the Croatian person tasted all the sweetness of unity, solidarity, wisdom, knowledge, devotion and, above all, living faith, which was transformed into a salvific corridor toward peace. These values should be studied, recalled and wisely incorporated in the school and academic systems, economic strategies, long-term development plans and pronatalism policies.

9. We, citizens of Croatia, can deal with all the problems, even the greatest, if the values of peace and unity for which we fought take hold. Croatia longs for an internal friend! Therefore, as the Archbishop of Zagreb, I beg of you, Croatian political official, to be a friend to the Croatian nation. I beg of you, you in the judiciary, you in culture, you in science, you in sports, you in the media, you in business, to be a friend of the Croatian nation. I invite you, brother and sister in faith, wherever you may be, to be a friend to your people! Here in Knin, I invite you and you, dear fellow citizens of Serbian nationality, to be friends to our common homeland of Croatia. Here are our roots, our common present and future.
God has given us the opportunity to live in this country he entrusted to us, which, not only we but also many others say is beautiful. It is a land in which we can live gratefully, preserving the values of life and family; a land in which it is necessary to find enough work for all; a land that can cheer the heart and make people more humane.

10. The Croatian anthem, echoing today throughout Knin, nowhere specifically mentions God but every verse points to the Creator. Only he could have created such beautiful plains, mountains and the sea. Only he could have inspired so much heroism and grace, which our anthem celebrates.
As believers, today we pray for the Triune God to bless and safeguard our Croatian homeland with paternal care and, in keeping our forefathers’ vow, pledge our fidelity and gratitude while our fields are warmed by the sun, our oaks are lashed by winds, our dead remain hidden in their graves and our living hearts beat! Here today, we can see that Croatia recognizes what is valuable. As a nation that especially venerates the Mother of God, we realize how much we need her intercession to help us accept God’s will. That we may better hear what God is saying to us, let us renew our vow from the baptismal font, emboldened by the trust to which the Blessed Alojzije Stepinac bore witness.

Therefore, in conclusion, with humble prayer I address Our Lady of the Great Croatian Baptismal Vow:

In the heart of your ancient Knin,
Accept our vow, more precious than gold;
Bless us from Heaven,
O Queen and Mother of Croats.

Amen.