Lest You Remain

C HRIST IN THE S PIRITUALITY OF THE S ERVANT OF G OD , F R . S TANISLAUS P APCZY ˆ SKI * Before his death, the Servant of God, Fr. Stanislaus Papczy < ski bequeathed his portrait to posterity. He said that he leaves it for the curious to examine, but rather he gives his confreres an example of the life of Jesus Christ to imitate. 1 Father Stanislaus’s spiritual sons had to follow Christ, but what was Christ like in Fr. Stanislaus’s perception? What is the image of Christ that the Founder of the Marians traced? In Fr. Papczy < ski’s teachings, Christ appears above all as the mer- ciful and suffering. Merciful Christ One of the most frequently used Bible verses in St. Paul is the word “God rich in mercy” (Eph 2:4). John Paul II placed those words at the beginning of his encyclical Dives in misericordia . It is like a song of the merciful God. When writ- ing this second encyclical, almost at the beginning of his pontificate, the Pope wished to place its fate in the hands of God Himself, rich in mercy. He knew that mankind was tormented by various evils and that God’s mercy was the only refuge for weak, sin-stricken man. As we know, the particular encouragement to trust in Divine Mercy has come in our times’ through the revelations granted to Sr. Faustina Kowalska, whom John Paul II raised to the honors of the altar. The truth about God rich in mercy has always been present in Catholic theol- ogy. Nonetheless, there were times when a special emphasis was put on it. This essentially happened when hard times came down on people. Such was the 17 th cen- tury in Poland, and the theologians of that time began to bring this truth closer to people. The teachings of the Marian Founder reflected this in describing the role of the Divine Mercy in the life of a Christian. He was the one to call Divine Mercy “a clear guiding star” that shines for the human soul. 2 * This paper was presented at the 8 th International Conference of the AMH in Lichen, Poland, in 2006. 1 “Imaginem personae meae spectandam curiosis, vitam vero Domini mei Jesu Christi Religiosis imitandam relinquo”. Testamentum Alterum § 9, Scripta Historica , Varsaviae 1999, p. 137. 2 “Tu iactaris adhuc, anima mea, in periculosissimo pelago mundi, totque scyllis, scopulis, syrtibus allideris. O quoties iam ad Aetnaeum montem, ad Siculum scopulum fueras, ad ianuam inferni fueras appulsa tempestatibus excitatis ab Orco, periissesque oborta gravi nocte peccatorum, in fluctibus tentationum, nisi tibi clarissima cynosura, divina misericordia , affulsisset, teque errantem