Father Casimir Wyszynski

ternity of Divine Providence at the church in Góra Kalwaria. He displayed divine hope in various circumstances and in the most difficult matters regarding his Order, especially at the founding of his community’s newmonastery in Raśna, since he had to over- come great obstacles in order to have it happen. 71 “There is no need to doubt his virtue of hope, for the Venerable Casimir manifestly possessed this theological virtue. The essen- tial objective of hope is to reach the ultimate goal which is God Himself and eternal happiness, granted on the strength of God’s grace and themerits of Christ. Thiswas the only goal of Venerable Casimir. All of his expectations, desires, and thoughts were con- cerned only with ultimate things and heavenlymatters. This was manifested in cases when he, greatly trusting in God, was able to settle the most difficult matters successfully. It happened when theMarianswere offered a new foundation in Raśna, and the Ven- erable was called to accept it, but the benefactor happened to be gravely ill. Before setting out on this trip, the Venerable made a seven-day retreat, which I as his travel companion also made, separated from Father Casimir’s bedroom only by some rods. During this retreat I was able to observe with great edification for myself, Father’s heroic acts of virtue. Also, out of the conver- sations I had with him, I was able to learn that he possessed the theological and cardinal virtues to a heroic degree. “Having completed the retreat, the Venerable Casimir and I rushed to visit the aforesaid benefactor, Mr. GeorgeMatuszewicz. We found him seriously ill. Father Casimir advised him to place his hope for recovery in God. Then hewent into prayer and urged me to do the same. And so it happened that our benefactor promptly returned to health and fulfilled his promise of the new foundation. From that moment on, the benefactor held Venerable Casimir in great esteem, professing that the Venerablewas aman after God’s heart.” 72 71 Ibid, 431. 72 Ibid, 471. 112 Z YGMUNT P ROCZEK , MIC, P H D