Lest You Remain

place itself that remained vacant from the fall of the angels, begs to be taken over. “To take over this city the most efficient weapon is faith, the assault ladder—hope; the arrow—love, by which, as soon as you pierce God, He will order His Capitol (Kingdom) to be opened for the conqueror and will crown the worthy one with immortal laurels.” 20 If one conquers the Kingdom of Heaven by the worthy fruits of repentance, God Himself cannot resist this person, because He once bound Himself by saying: “As I live, ….I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, but rather in the wicked man’s conversion, that he may live” (Ez 33:11). 21 Father Papczy < ski draws our attention to another important element of con- quering the Kingdom of Heaven: namely on humble and confident prayer. The one who thinks that he still does not have a right to participate in the joy of the future life can cry out in the manner of the evangelical leper: “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean” (Mt 8:2). Father Stanislaus changes little of this prayer and implores God with tears: “Lord, even if You don’t want, You ought to clean me. Because if You did not come to redeem the righteous but the sinners, why do You permit me to remain for so long in my offenses? (…) If You were stirred by the leper’s cry when he begged You for a healthy body, then even more so and reason- ably shouldYou bow to my pleading, because I begYou for the healing of soul (…). My cause and my request is so much more justified and so much more needed, that You may want to heal me, clean and enlighten me. Otherwise, what good would Your blood be, if I had to be lost? What fruit would I have fromYour sacrifice and my redemption, if, redeemed by You, because of my sins, I would remain tempted and thus would lose forever my freedom?” 22 This is an example of sincere prayer of a converted sinner, which deeply moves the Heart of the Merciful Jesus. In this humble prayer to the Merciful Jesus, Fr. Stanislaus also seeks the help of our Blessed Mother as the merciful advocate, because she truly gave the world its Redeemer. A person often becomes despondent because of committed sins. It is possible that pride does not permit a total submission to the mercy of God. Or the obstacle in achieving a radical change is laziness and a lack of desire for honest work on oneself. Also, it may happen that the obstacle is despondency induced by the enemy of our salvation. To these very people Fr. Stanislaus directs a truly dramatic appeal, so as to awaken in them trust in the intercession of our Blessed Mother: “Come here, oh most desperate sinner! You, who under the weight of your transgressions L EST Y OU R EMAIN W ITHOUT W ORK IN THE V INEYARD OF THE L ORD 202 20 S. Papczy < ski, Prodromus reginae artium , Varsaviae 1663, 43. 21 Orator Crucifixus , 27. 22 Inspectio cordis , 17v-18r.