Csezlawa Kwoka

This is Csezlawa Kwoka, a Polish Catholic girl shortly before her execution by the Nazis. Before this photo was taken, she dried the tears from her eyes and wiped the blood from her lip.

Hers is the face of so many who lost their lives in the Nazi Death Camps and it's almost to hard to believe that so many men, women and children met a horrifically cruel death be they Jew, Polish, Sinta-Roman, Slavic, homosexual, politically unacceptable or simply socially "unacceptable".

As she stares out at us, Csezlawa exhibits in her eyes a refusal to be crushed. Hers is the human spirit in the face of unrelenting evil. That human beings should be capable of both heroism and depravity is extraordinary. It shows that we are in possession of a power that can lay waste and stand strong. I could have published any other photograph but Csezlawa's is the one that passed before today.

It is truly heartbreaking to see an innocent girl brutalised but her resolve betrays the fact that each human being possesses an indelible dignity which lies far beyond the reach of the diabolical. In her eyes, perhaps we catch a glimpse of the Resurrection in the eyes of Christ at His Crucifixion. We weep for her because she should not suffer, because she is too young to suffer, because she is too innocent. We weep because it is our sins that cause people like Csezlawa to suffer. It is our sins that cause our children to suffer, directly or indirectly, and we cannot forget the reality of that. Csezlawa shows us why we need justice, mercy, healing and grace because our sins damage others grievously.

We have to remember that the Devil exists and hates us. He wants Csezlawa and all the others to be forgotten so that we are not confronted by the sins we have committed. He wants us to be comfortable in our descent into Hell. But we Christians have the audacity to repent, to bewail our sins, to cry to God for forgiveness and grace, and seek to be better people in that grace. And God has the audacity to forgive us, to be merciful to us, to be gracious to us. We must make sure that we take sin and repentance seriously so that we love truly our God and love truly our neighbours, for surely every Csezlawa is our neighbour.

I have one prayer, for I need her prayers more than she needs mine. That prayer is, before I stand before the Great Judge for His judgement upon me, that I shall see her face again as she is now in Heaven and know that she sees eternally that beauty and joy which pass human understanding.