Lest You Remain

fall into the deepest hell and by now believe your salvation to be a lost cause. Come here, run to the feet of Mary: «This is your Mother.»” 23 Suffering Christ In Kalahari, one of the south-african languages, the phrase “to show mercy” is translated as «butelo butloko» meaning “to accept somebody else’s suffering?. This is what Christ has done: He took upon Himself our suffering. And this is how Fr. Stanislaus Papczy < ski portrays Him. The Servant of God was himself closely united to the suffering Christ, this manifested itself both in his life and in his writings. He showed the depth of the suf- fering Christ’s agony with a realism proper to his contemporary writers, but with a great sensitivity and love for the agonizing Redeemer. By describing in intense and graphic ways everything that happened to Christ from the Last Supper to Calvary, Fr. Stanislaus wished to not only move his Christian reader, but also to teach him, by showing him the important truths that have such a great meaning for the Christian life. The deepening experiences of the suffering Christ in the teachings of Fr. Papczy < ski As a 17 th century preacher and writer, Fr. Papczy<ski portrays everything that Christ undergoes during His passion with the characteristic realism of that epoch. This is easily seen in the writings of each individual scene of the Passion. The author narrates them in a very vivid and concrete way. It is also confirmed by the titles of those passion reflections, such as “Bath of the Olive Garden,” “Flogging of a sinner,” or “Crowning with thorns.” Father Stanislaus depicts Christ’s prayer in the Garden as a struggle with a multitude of human sins. This was a true battle, an armed confrontation, in which blood has been spilled. The blood flown down Christ’s forehead and His entire body as great drops of sweat, it was dripping down on earth preparing for human kind a salvific bath to wash off the filth of evil. 24 Christ in the Spirituality of the Servant of God, Fr. St. Papczy < ski 203 23 Ibid. 24 „Cum igitur audimus cum delictorum nostrorum infinitis prope legionibus pugnam inire Iesum, quid expectamus aliud, quam sanguinem? Ah! manat equidem, manat, non solum rosea frons sed paene totum corpus incurvati sub oneribus culparum totius orbis Atlantis nostri sanquineo sudore!”. Ibid., I, 3, s. 5.