On the charismatic mission

Ad honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae On the charismatic mission

1 AD HONOREM IMMACULATAE CONCEPTIONIS MARIAE On the charismatic mission

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3 AD HONOREM IMMACULATAE CONCEPTIONIS MARIAE On the charismatic mission REFLECTIONS Edited by Fr. Tomasz Nowaczek MIC The General Curia of the Congregation of Marian Fathers PROM I C Rome / Warsaw 2022

4 Front cover image: A manuscript of the Norma Vitae and a portable altar with an image of an eye in a triangle – a symbol of Divine Providence – at the Sanctuary of St. Father Stanislaus Papczynski in Marianki, Góra Kalwaria, Poland Cover page IV Logo for the 350th Anniversary of the Congregation of Marian Fathers Cover design: Hanna Woźnica-Gierlasińska Editorial revision: Agnieszka Salata-Potrzebowska Proofreading: Fr. Joseph G. Roesch, MIC Desktop publishing and technical edition: Eliza Wiśniewska All the biblical passages (if not stated otherwise) quoted from: The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB), Darton, Longman and Todd and Les Editions du Cerf, 1985 ISBN 978-83-7502-980-2 Printing and binding: druk-24h w Białymstoku

5 Table of contents List of abbreviations . 7 Andrzej PAKUŁA MIC Foreword . 9 Tomasz NOWACZEK MIC Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 TOMASZ NOWACZEK MIC January 2023: Pro Christo et ecclesia versus fluid Catholicism on evangelical faithfulness. 13 TOMASZ NOWACZEK MIC February 2023: A gene of mercy on war and peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 KRZYSZTOF STĄPOR MIC March 2023: A Marian in service of the sick on closeness in sickness and pain. 29 TOMASZ NOWACZEK MIC April 2023: Oblatio by Papczyński versus Narcissus by Caravaggio on lost bravery. 35 ŁUKASZ MAZUREK MIC May 2023: The Marians on men truly consecrated . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 TOMASZ NOWACZEK MIC June 2023: Towards “youthfulness of disposition” on a person in cyberspace. 52 TOMASZ NOWACZEK MIC July 2023: A dwarf on the back of a giant on lost conscience . 61

6 TOMASZ NOWACZEK MIC August 2023: Life is not a euphemism on the hope of fatherhood and parenthood for the infertile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 ŁUKASZ MAZUREK MIC September 2023: “Old” initiative, new man! on the experience of mercy – from the Immaculate Conception to the present condition of the Marian Fathers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 TOMASZ NOWACZEK MIC October 2023: God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world on suffering and death. 84 KRZYSZTOF STĄPOR MIC November 2023: The Suffering of a Marian in fraternity on the stages of empathy . 93 TOMASZ NOWACZEK MIC December 2023: Skin in the Game – the culture of transferring risk to others on lost responsibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

7 List of abbreviations ChV Post-synodal exhortation “Christus vivit” of Pope Francis to young people and the entire people of God, Loreto, 25 March 2019. DC Encyclical letter “Deus caritas est” of Pope Benedict XVI to the bishops, priest and deacons, men and women religious and all the lay faithful on Christian love, Rome, 25 December 2005. EE Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life, “Essential elements” in the Church’s teaching on religious life, 31 May 1983. GS Second Vatican Council, The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World “Gaudium et spes”, Rome, 7 December 1965. C Constitutions and Directory of the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, Editio typica, General Curia of the Marian Fathers Rome 2018 CCC Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2018. NW Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life, New Wine in New Wineskins. The consecrated life and its ongoing challenges since Vatican II. Guidelines, Libreria Editrice Vatican, 2017. PF Apostolic letter “Porta Fidei” of Pope Benedict XVI announcing The Year of Faith, Rome, 11 October 2011. VC Post-synodal apostolic exhortation “Vita consecrata” of the Holy Father John Paul II to the bishops and clergy, religious orders and congregations, societies of apostolic life, secular institutes and all the faithful on the consecrated life and its mission in the Church and in the world, Rome, 25 March 1996.

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9 Foreword On the charismatic mission, the publication in the series Ad honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae edited by Fr. Tomasz Nowaczek MIC PhD, and mostly written by him, is the fourth and the last book planned for the 350th anniversary of establishing the Congregation of the Marian Fathers. It closes the series of reflections on the history, spirituality and charism of the religious community founded in 1670 by St. Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary Papczyński. The three previous publications focused mainly on issues regarding the history and theology of the spirituality of the Congregation of the Marian Fathers, in particular on what relates to the foundation of the Congregation, i.e. the act of the Oblatio made in Cracow on 11th December 1670 by our Saint Founder; then on the founding charism and its most important elements; and last year (the third book) on the very difficult history of the Congregation and its Paschal path. This book has a little different purpose. The intention of the editor, who is the author of the whole project and most of the chapters, is an attempt to translate the earlier reflections, i.e. what is considered our charism, into praxis, both in relation to the Marian style of life (of course, we are talking about the quality of life) and, maybe above all, to the apostolate, or, more broadly, to any external activity of the Congregation. Hence the title: On the charismatic mission. In the Introduction, Fr. Tomasz Nowaczek MIC humbly points out that: “In the proposed texts for the Days of Recollection, you will not find calls for sudden changes or even a ruckus intended to revive the Congregation.” However, my dream is that these deep and seriously thought out lectures cause a ruckus. Because if the word ruckus means disturbance or commotion (ruckus –The Free Dictionary) the best fruition would be provoking a serious, or even controversial, discussion on how the charism of the Congregation founded by St. Stanislaus should be updated and expressed in the context of modern cultural trends, social changes, today’s sensitivity and the needs of the Church and the world. This is, indeed, the subject of the reflections in this book. The editor himself expresses the same wish writing with hope a little further in the Introduction that he would like these texts by him and two other authors (Fr. Krzysztof Stąpor MIC and Fr. Łukasz Mazurek MIC PhD) to raise “our faith and courage

10 to participate in the discussion about ministry as an emanation of understanding and living the charism of the Congregation.” The key issues taken up in the book concern the problem of consistency between historical, theological and spiritual reflections and the practice of both the religious life and apostolic activity. Today’s Church in the person of Pope Francis urges everybody, including consecrated persons, to make an evangelical discernment which is listening to the Holy Spirit and responding to His call. This call always comes in specific historical circumstances which, in the language of the Church, means reading the signs of the times. For the Congregation of the Marian Fathers, the Jubilee of its 350th anniversary is, undoubtfully, such a sign. Thus, there are several questions of fundamental importance to us: how in the context of the Jubilee do we recognize the message of the Holy Spirit, what does He call us to, are we open to His voice and are we ready to leave behind not only our conceptions and old ways of thinking but also our habits and comfortability. In other words, do we have this newness and freshness of the heart and mind which allow us to step off the beaten mental track and risk into what is unknown, new, not our way but what the Holy Spirit expects of us. The Authors of this book try to answer these, and other, questions, though maybe differently expressed. I would like to thank the Editor for the original approach towards the subject. I am also grateful to all the Authors for their effort of undertaking the research, noting their thoughts and sharing their reflections. I believe that these reflections will deepen our love for the Church and our Congregation and help us to better understand many vital issues of our faith to ultimately make it stronger. Andrzej Pakuła, MIC Superior General Rome, 6th August, 2022, On the Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus

11 Introduction The General Jubilee Committee had prepared a program of celebrations for the 350th anniversary of the origin of the Congregation for the years 2019-2023 which, due to the pandemic, needed updating. Not only many interesting conferences, symposia and congresses planned for the entire congregation were not held, but also enthusiasm for the celebrations in individual communities died rather quickly. The significant elements of that time which will firmly remain in the consciousness of the Marian Fathers are: the discovery and the rereading of the Oblatio of Fr. Stanislaus Papczyński, a beautiful jubilee cross with iconography illustrating the essence of our charismatic vocation and mission, the texts of the monthly Days of Recollection and, most of all, the conviction that the Word of God is true when He says: “for my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways” (cf. Isa 55:8-9). Let us hope that this conviction will translate into an authentic need for practising spiritual discernment of the signs of the time and the courage to confidently undertake the practice of seeking and fulfilling only “the will of the One who chose us before the world was made and commissioned us to go out and to bear fruit” (cf. Jn 15:16). Such spiritual experience may lead us towards man who, as always, “without Christ, is not able to understand his deepest calling – the from where and to where of life”1. Therefore, let us try, remembering more than the 350 years of history of our Congregation, to touch the present time of the charismatic mission which we have inherited and which, by God’s will, still needs to be undertaken in a new way for the glory of God and for the salvation of the world. In the proposed texts for the Days of Recollection, you will not find calls for sudden changes or even a ruckus intended to revive the Congregation. I would like these texts to raise our faith and courage to participate in a discussion about the ministry as an radiation of understanding and living the charism of the Congregation which is God’s gift to the Church. A truly fantastic thing would be the engagement of the confreres who, with a calm 1 Cf. John Paul II, the homily at the Victory Square in Warsaw on 2 June 1979 https://www. ekai.pl/dokumenty/homilia-jana-pawla-ii-wygloszona-podczas-mszy-sw-na-placu-zwyciestwa (access on 28 April 2022).

12 confidence in themselves and in the Marian mission, would warn the people of today against the errors and a blind belief in the supposed triumph of ideologies that reject God. For this, we need a vision inspired in a similar way as can be seen in our Founder himself, then in the Renovator and later in numerous fathers who found the appropriate means to proclaim Christ. God has always been their inspiration: “But just as God Himself (to whom be everlasting, endless glory and thanksgiving) lovingly, mercifully, wisely, and miraculously inspired me to this work of His Providence, so also He Himself has brought it about – and He will bring it to completion, forever and ever.”2. In this spirit and with hope for a good last year of the Jubilee, we give the confreres these reflections for every month of 2023. 2 Saint Stanislaus Papczyński, The Foundation of the House of Recollection, Fundatio Domus Recollectionis, in: Selected Writing of Saint Stanislaus Papczyński, PROMIC, Warsaw, Poland, Marian Heritage, Stockbridge, MA, USA, 2022, p. 901.

13 TOMASZ NOWACZEK MIC Warsaw, Poland January 2023 Pro Christo et ecclesia versus fluid Catholicism on evangelical faithfulness The Word of the Lord: 2 Tim 4:1-5 Before God and before Christ Jesus who is to be judge of the living and the dead, I charge you, in the name of his appearing and of his kingdom: proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct error, give encouragement – but do all with patience and with care to instruct. The time is sure to come when people will not accept sound teaching, but their ears will be itching for anything new and they will collect themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes; and then they will shut their ears to the truth and will turn to myths. But you must keep steady all the time; put up with suffering; do the work of preaching the gospel; fulfil the service asked of you. SOURCES St. Stanislaus Papczyńsk, Examination of the Heart, in: Selected Writing of Saint Stanislaus Papczyński, PROMIC, Warsaw, Poland, Marian Heritage, Stockbridge, MA, USA, 2022 p. 234-237 Sunday of Pentecost “If a man loves [M]e, he will keep [M]y word” (Jn 14:23). Consider that the essence of perfect love is to observe the divine words. Just as children who truly love their parents try to fulfil their will exactly, in the same way, as the sons of God, those who would like to be lovers of the best and greatest Father should take great care to fulfil His commandments most diligently. On the other hand, he is unworthy of the name of “son” who, deaf to all commandments, receives them as fairy tales and considers many of them to be unnecessarily imposed by the Father.

14 Thus, the one who does not pay attention to God’s will is not to be regarded even as a servant of God. For the infinite Goodness says in complaint about such people: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Lk 6:46). Therefore, it will be your duty to strive for a perfect union through the true observance of the laws and commandments of God, and of those who represent Him. “My Father will love him” (Jn 14:23). Consider how those servants rejoice, who have won over by their services not only the hearts of the children but also of their parents. When they have gained their favor, they rejoice and believe that they will lead a very quiet and calm life, as if carried by the favorable west winds. The Truth promises the same to anyone who is obedient to Him, because by true obedience and service, a person will gain not only His love, but also the love of the eternal Father, the almighty and gracious Lord: “And My Father,” He says, “will love him.” O the happiness of the soul that loves Jesus! O the bliss of the spirit submissive to the Holy Spirit! Consider: What greater happiness could you experience in this life than being loved by God? For the most wonderful thing has already happened when someone is loved by God. But make sure that you respond to the divine love extended to you with an equal love (although who is able to achieve this?), with humble submission, eager readiness, steadfast service, and constant obedience. [...] And this is the way to recognize the Spirit of God: Namely, if a trial precedes Him. For this is a peculiar sign of the divine grace being poured into man’s soul, according to someone’s saying: “We almost never have God nearer to us, than when we find ourselves in a difficult situation.” And Nahum says: “His way is in whirlwind and storm” (Nah 1:3). The Holy Spirit comes to a man with a loud clamor and sound, when the soul is disturbed, frightened, and worn out. Finally, He comes from Heaven, sent by Christ the Lord from that immortal ark of the triumphant heavenly Sovereign. For the inspirations proceeding from the infernal marsh (namely, the whisperings of the evil spirits) seductively approach the soul and gently caress it; but on their departure they leave a thousand vexations of conscience, a thousand stings, and a thousand severe pains. On the contrary, it is clear that the Spirit of the Lord (preceded by anguish) comes in a whirlwind and with noise. However, signs of joy, a thousand consolations, a thousand fruits and a thousand goods immediately follow Him. If, therefore, you were tormented before the Sacred Banquet because of your imperfections, or because of

15 a desire to regain divine grace, or for any other pious reason, believe that you received the Spirit of the Lord, who will be accompanied by incredible consolations. REFLECTIONS The last decade of the Church’s history has been a period of exposing certain weaknesses and the gradual discovery of trends of schism which have become unprecedently noticeable e.g. in the Church of the German-speaking regions. In the process of the consultations during the Synod on Synodality summoned by Pope Francis for the years, 2021-2023, several interesting and yet alarming postulates have been formulated. Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the Archbishop of Munich and Freising, calls for lifting the rules of celibacy for priests in the Catholic Church and he does not preclude the priesthood of women; Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg, following some circles of lay Catholics in Germany, postulates changes in the teaching of the Church on homosexuality claiming that the socio-scientific grounds of the teaching are no longer true.1 Also, the chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, Bp. Georg Bätzing, calls for a change in the teaching of the Catholic Church on sexuality, particularly homosexuality. He believes that sexuality is not a sin and a sexually active homosexual may be a good Catholic. He claims that when a gay couple lives together faithfully and responsibly, they do not in any way break their relationship with God. Like others, he advocates for lifting celibacy and for the ordination of women.2 George Weigel, commenting on the above-mentioned stances, thinks that Germany’s synodal path abandons the Gospel. The American theologian describes these pursuits as the Catholic Lite project. It is an attempt to detach the Church from the Scripture and Tradition. It is a Catholicism that could not tell you with certainty what it believes in or what makes righteous living; a Church of open borders, unable or unwilling to define those ideas and actions by which full communion with the Mystical Body 1 Cf. https://www.fronda.pl/a/kard-marx-chce-zniesienia-obowiazkowego-celibatu-lepiej- aby-byli-zonaci,173170.html; https://www.fronda.pl/a/z-niemiec-homoherezja-wylewa-sie-na- caly-kosciol-kard-hollerich-kosciol-musi-zmienic-nauczanie-nt-homoseksualizmu,173204. html. 2 Cf. https://pch24.pl/bp-georg-batzing-chce-zmian-cel-blogoslawienie-homozwiazkow-i- kaplanstwo-kobiet/.

16 of Christ is broken. However, will the Catholic Lite project lead to a vibrant Catholicism, doing the work that Pope St. John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council set before the Church: the conversion and sanctification of the world? Weigel also observes that it is Catholicism that embraces the symphony of Catholic truth as the answer to the world’s yearning for genuine human liberation and authentic human community is alive and vital today. Catholic Lite, or in other words, fluid Catholicism that takes its cues from the modern world is a dying Catholicism. Weigel sees it in full display in the German “Synodal Path”. He writes about its two apostasies. The first apostasy holds that history judges Revelation; there are no stable reference points for Catholic self-understanding; we are in charge, not Christ the Lord. He gives an example: The Lord Jesus says that marriage is forever; the Synodal Path can change that. St. Paul and the entire biblical tradition teach that same-sex activities violate the divine plan for human love inscribed in our being created as male and female; the Synodal Path can change that because we postmodernists know better.3 The second apostasy teaches a false notion of freedom as “autonomy.” And yet, freedom as arbitrariness is self-induced slavery. Authentic freedom is liberation through moral truth towards goodness and beauty. Fluid Catholicism reigns supreme in the deliberations of the German Synodal Path. The result will not be evangelical renewal but a further abandonment of the Gospel.4 This is vividly reminiscent of the era of the crises of the Church at the turn of the 15th to the 16th century when new humanist trends emerged manifesting themselves in changes in mentality and social morality which put at the centre, not Christ, but the new man, who replaced the love of God with the love of oneself and transcendental love with love of earthly goods (pleasures, honours and wealth). These trends played an increasingly important role in the Papal court. This new morality and way of life substantially affected the perception of the faithful towards Rome. An important note: The above mentioned humanism also had a different – a Catholic face which did not necessarily mean giving up an existing perception of the world and questioning Christian civilization. This humanistic trend and a certain style of piety resulting from it influenced Renaissance art, painting, sculpture and architecture. There is no sign of a retreat from the theocentric image of the world or a complete loss of piety. 3 Cf. https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2022/02/liquid-catholicism-and-the-german-synodal-path. 4 Ibid.

17 Raphael, Michelangelo, Perugino or Botticelli, following theologians, depict in their work the reality that is sanctified and permeated by God’s presence. They try not to omit showing God’s work of creating the world, the importance of the Church, heaven, judgment, the glorification of Christ or emphasising the power of Peter. The artists of this period (15th – 16th centuries) show Divine wisdom in action, the living temple built of living stones chosen by God. They speak of the papal power of the keys, the power of binding and loosing both in the temporal and the eternal world. It is God, not man, who is the centre of attention of the Renaissance masters. “Man himself, with no relation to God, locked in temporality, focused on his own greatness and power was of no interest to them”.5 An example of such an approach may be, The Disputation of the Holy Sacrament, painted by Raphael between 1509 and 1510. There are three meanings attributed to the fresco. The upper part of the painting anagogically depicts the Church triumphant, while the lower part is an allegory of the struggling Church. The saints depicted come from the most important books of the Old and New Testament. The third heaven represents an intellectual vision of God. Disputation is a symbolic presentation of the whole 5 Paweł Lisicki, Luter. Ciemna strona rewolucji, Fronda, Warsaw 2017, p. 65.

18 realm ruled by God. The first heaven is to know ourselves, the second one to know creation perfectly and the third one is the vision of God– contemplatio Dei. Petrus Galatinus summarises the efforts of the theologians of his time who, to a significant extent, inspired contemporary artists: “whoever, therefore, desires to fathom the mysteries of God (Dei arcana inspicere) in contemplation of divine matters, should reject fleshly things and climb spiritually to the heaven of the Scriptures – like Paul taken to the third heaven – and stand at the open gate of the Scriptures themselves – to see secret words, too sacred to be uttered by a man”.6 It is clear that the Bible is the source of the understanding and interpretation of the world, the reality surrounding man. Heaven, understood as the place of God’s presence, is a point of reference. The Church is God’s bride. The Pope is to lead the faithful to eternal life, to God. Rome is the symbolic New Jerusalem, the holy city, the centre of the world where one can enter heaven and experience interaction with God. Pope Sixtus IV wanted the main chapel of his palace to imitate Solomon’s Temple. The painters were supposed to bring out adoration, to direct the attention of the faithful toward what is eternal and unchanging. Asceticismwas meant to lead to contemplation and fulfilling God’s will. It had nothing to do with just aesthetics. Theologians, popes and artists followed the idea to present a very precise theological program; that is how they understood their mission and they tried to engage the best masters and to use the best means of expression.7 This is the reality into which the figure of Stanislaus Papczyński arrives. He was a child of his times shaped not only by the situation of 17th century Poland but also by the reforms of the Council of Trent as, among others, an answer to Martin Luther’s Reformation. The Council saw the religious life as the pursuit of excellence which was confirmed in the then commonly used terms via perfectionis or via spiritualis. Inspectio cordis, a work written by Father Stanislaus, a collection of reflections and sermons, was intended to introduce the listener or the reader to eternal and everlasting matters which take specific forms in striving for evangelical perfection. According to Father Stanislaus, evangelical perfection has to be based on the Bible, especially the Gospel, which the apostles of Christ accepted and put into practice.8 He clearly says that via perfectionis or spiritualis is the 6 Ibid, p. 66. 7 Cf. ibid. 8 Cf. Fr. Andrzej Pakuła, Wprowadzenie, in: Błogosławiony Stanisław Papczyński, Wejrzenie w głąb serca (Inspectio cordis –IC), Wydawnictwo Księży Marianów MIC, Warsaw 2008, p. 9.

19 right style of life for the apostles and that “all the followers of Christ are His adopted children and heirs of the kingdom of heaven. However, more so for religious who - undertaking the Evangelical counsels – make their profession of the apostolic order and attempt to faithfully follow the life of Christ the Lord.”.9 Religious perfection, according to our Founder, is a process. At its beginning, there is God’s initiative which encourages us to totally reject sin and to follow the principles of the Gospel to become perfect in imitation of Christ. Following Christ in His love and obedience to God the Father is accompanied by an awareness of the finiteness of the earthly life which directs us toward an eschatological future.10 Therefore, Christ is at the centre of the life of a religious – a spiritual person – a Christian. The essence is not an intellectual fascination with Christ but following Christ’s way of life. Following Christ is the fundamental duty of a religious man. His aim is reaching the Father in heaven (see Jn 14:1ff). Christ showed this aim in His teaching and actions. His life was the fulfilment of His teaching on the Kingdom of the Father. “Fr. Papczyński warns that rejecting Christ’s call to follow Him not only poses the danger of spurning the glory which God prepared for the followers of Christ but also of spurning God Himself. Therefore, whoever thinks that salvation and glory can be obtained without following God the Son Incarnate deludes himself.”11 The Founder of the Marian Fathers presents following Christ as timeless (sequela Christi) and demands a similar relationship between a disciple of today and the Teacher as is described in the pages of New Testament. Summing up, the following hypothesis is being confirmed that the current attempts to make Catholicism more fluid are the result of a renunciation of the Gospel in favour of fashionable, ideologically tinged trends which are supposed to make Christianity more “with the times” – easy and pleasant –which leads to the annihilation of the life-giving power of Catholicism directed towards eternity. Striving to follow Christ comes from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He brings about the desire of the heart (desiderium cordis) to follow Christ entirely – His words, acts, all the way up to the heroic love which can be seen in the Passion of the Saviour. This inspiration by the Holy Spirit lasts for the whole life of a religious – He excites and sustains it. One can meet 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid, p. 27. 11 Ibid.

20 Christ most fully during the Eucharist. That is when the desire of the heart rekindles and the initial intention and ideal of a life devoted solely to Jesus is cleansed. Human effort is equally important – a commitment involving a radical decision to renounce sin and to make an effort to follow Christ in sinlessness in order to live for God and His affairs.12 Father Papczyński says that an authentic test of following Christ is conversion. He recalls here the figures of Judas and Matthew, the tax collector. Each of them followed Christ’s call but one can clearly see the difference in fulfilling this calling. Our Founder expresses it as follows: Consider that the evidence of a true conversion is the true imitation of Christ the Lord. Judas Iscariot was not converted, because although he followed Jesus, he was following Him deceitfully; he followed Him with a false disposition, thinking of his moneybags. Saint Matthew, on the contrary, was a true follower of Christ because, getting up, he followed Him. From where did he get up? From sin. To where did he follow Christ? To the virtues. Behold, a simple rule of following Christ is given to you: get up and follow Him [...] Get up, therefore, and follow Him; because you will by no means follow Him, unless you get up.13 A radical break with sin is a fundamental condition for following Christ which resonates even more strongly in the call of the Marians’ Founder to take up the cross and to renounce oneself (cf. Mt 16:24). Father Founder, based on this passage of the Gospel, contrasts the way of life shown by Christ with a life lived according to earthly ambitions. Behaviours which need to be renounced if one wants to follow an evangelical life are: wickedness, vainglory, envy and pride. Following Christ, according to Father Founder, calls for renouncing everything one owns or may own in the future: honours, riches, deference, fame or even relatives and parents – one needs to follow Christ firmly and resolutely. “Totality and uncompromisingness in following Christ should be the essential principle rule of following Christ in perfection. [...]He not only wants to be followed but also He helps those who – binding their life with Him – seek to become like Him.”14 12 Ibid, p. 28. 13 Saint Stanislaus Papczyński, Examination of the Heart, For the Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist in: Selected Writing of Saint Stanislaus Papczyński, PROMIC, Warsaw, Poland, Marian Heritage, Stockbridge, MA, USA, 2022, p. 424. 14 Cf. Fr. Andrzej Pakuła, Wprowadzenie, w: Błogosławiony Stanisław Papczyński, Wejrzenie w głąb serca Wydawnictwo Księży Marianów MIC, Warszawa 2008, p. 29; IC p. 8–10.

21 It is worth noting that although renouncing sin and the world is already in itself an expression of following Christ, this is only the first step. Evangelical perfection directs us towards further steps which aim to form a true man within us, like Jesus. Following Christ entirely indeed means becoming like Christ in relation to God, to neighbours and to oneself. In practice, this means living in perfect obedience to the Father – to die to everything that is not divine in order to live, like Christ, only for God.15 Next, it is practicing love of neighbour, including enemies, which comes fromChrist’s sacrifice on the cross. A disciple of Christ, just like his Master, should be consumed by the desire for the redemption of all people – not sparing himself for their salvation. Finally, religious perfection is characterized by an appropriate relationship to oneself, i.e. following Christ in a way which leads the disciple to properly shape his own personality: through acting properly and accepting suffering, by which he means consciously accepting what befalls man in a way beyond his own control. Father Founder is concerned with the strict observance of the rule of the Congregation, practicing and developing the virtues, observing the evangelical counsels and the ministry of salvation and the sanctification of others. He does not hesitate to call his spiritual sons to take upon themselves various occasions to suffer such as: mortification, injustice from others, the burden of work. Following Christ, according to the Father Founder, leads to meeting and accepting the cross (cf. Mt 16:24). A true disciple of Christ will carry the cross serenely, bravely, with holy persistence which can be an antidote to the vision of fluid Catholicism.16 Questions: 1. What is your self-awareness – who are you? 2. What is your awareness of the creation and the world in which you live and to which you are sent? 3. What is your knowledge of God and the vision of heaven? 15 Cf. Saint Stanislaus Papczyński, Examination of the Heart: Selected Writing of Saint Stanislaus Papczyński, PROMIC, Warsaw, Poland, Marian Heritage, Stockbridge, MA, USA, 2022, p. 424-428, 548-553. 16 Cf. Fr. Andrzej Pakuła, Wprowadzenie, w: Błogosławiony Stanisław Papczyński, Wejrzenie w głąb serca, Wydawnictwo Księży Marianów MIC, Warszawa 2008, p. 31.

22 TOMASZ NOWACZEK MIC Warsaw, Poland February 2023 A gene of mercy on war and peace The Word of the Lord: Lk 12:49-53 I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on, a household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three; father opposed to son, son to father, mother to daughter, daughter to mother, mother-inlaw to daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law to mother-in-law. Sources Prayer for the Beatification of the Servant of God Fr. Janis Mendriks Lord Jesus Christ, you called your servant, Fr. Janis Mendriks, to the Congregation devoted to the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. Please, if it is in accordance with your holy will, let us soon rejoice at his beatification. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen. Dmitrijs Artjomous, Servant of God Jānis Mendriks MIC, True man and priest, PROMIC, Warsaw 2019 – Letter 2 Father Mendriks wrote the second letter in Jaunborne on 13 July 1950, a few months before he got arrested. He addressed the letter to his sister, Veronica. It is titled: Blessed are those who suffer as they shall be com-

23 forted. He writes: these words of the Saviour Himself may comfort every man on his thorny way of life. Only a man can suffer, and suffer patiently, gaining merits before God in this way. No one can leave this valley of tears and move to eternity without suffering. The Saviour Himself is called by a prophet a suffering King. His Mother, the Virgin Mary, is called Our Lady of Sorrows. Are we not to drink from the chalice which Our Saviour and His Immaculate Mother, many saints and pious men drank from? Saint John Chrysostom says that suffering is more valuable than the ability to perform miracles. If we could work miracles, we would be God’s debtors, but when we suffer, it is as if God is our debtor. People have always suffered and they will suffer till the end of time. It is sweet to suffer because of the iniquity of others if you feel that you yourself don’t owe anybody anything. But even if you suffer through your own fault, your heart is filled with a certain peace because you know that God has not rejected you but He wants you to become an offering for others. One thing is clear for all of us – all suffering will end one day. God’s wisdom is so great that He found a way to put crosses on all the paths of life. That is why all we have to do is just to be patient and to trust in God’s care. It is best to repeat often: “Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in You.” It is necessary that unfailing trust is placed in the Saviour because then a man can find peace for his wounded soul. It is a very good thing to offer up all one’s difficulties in life for honourable intentions, especially for other sufferers so that God will give them strength and that their suffering would bear fruit. People don’t even suspect how much the one who gives them spiritual help is suffering. May such a life cross do them good so that one day they could work their land with even greater success. I have been living in the same old way, under the same conditions, for some time now. So far, I have all that I need. Give my best to your whole family and to the other relatives, including from the house of Smilga, Vera and others, J.M. Jaunborne, 13 July 1950 REFLECTIONS From 1863-1869, Leo Tolstoy wrote one of the greatest literary works, a historical novel, War and Peace. In it, the author describes three important

24 events in 19th century Russia: the Napoleonic Wars, the December Revolution and the Crimean War. The Russian writer is convinced that history is doomed by some unspecified power. The executors of this doom are masses of people and the ruler who is able to organize and use them in such a way that together they can fulfil some kind of historical mission. Tolstoy assigns this role to the tsar who, in order to execute this doom – mission, may turn to using power. The author of the Russian national epic also recognizes the idea of a just war. Based on the Gospel, Tolstoy believes that war is justifiable only when it is waged to defend land and people. He condemns a war to capture land or to satisfy the ruler’s ambitions, which does not guarantee long-term success and peace. An image of the Russian soul emerges from the novel. There is no shortage of mad love, pride and ambition. You also have envy, wickedness and pettiness. An image of the condition of the Russian soul can be found not only in Tolstoy’s work. Among numerous Russian writers and thinkers, it is enough to mention Fyodor Dostoevsky who perfectly characterizes the spiritual condition of his contemporaries – not only Russians. His insightful analyses can be found in such works as: The Gambler, The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment. A life of misery, envy, full of lies, overpowering laziness, meanness, exploitation, mental and physical suffering, unrepented crime, the consequences and punishment of which will be another crime. All this adds up to the pain of a spirit in the dark searching for mercy. And so on through the centuries. One can get the impression that Russia’s greatness, usurped or not, is disproportionate to the condition of its spirit, which does not even try to rise above blind fate that supposedly, no one can influence. However, what is hidden beneath blind fate? What power, despite brilliant spiritual insights, pushes a Russian man to choose the worse options which bring suffering to himself and others? Where does this inability to do good come from? Where does cruelty and the desire to dominate everyone come from? Isn’t it similar to the state of man described by the famous desert father, Evagrius Ponticus as acedia – the noonday demon? In this way, Evagrius characterises a situation in which man is subject to complete numbness of the psyche, powerlessness of soul and body. It is an inability to undertake any struggle for oneself, to save the greatness of humanity which can understand and accept itself only through an authentic relation to someone far superior to us and at the same time close to us – a personal God.

25 Saint James the Apostle instructs us: “Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? Is it not precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves? You want something and you lack it; so you kill. You have an ambition that you cannot satisfy; so you fight to get your way by force. It is because you do not pray that you do not receive; when you do pray and do not receive, it is because you prayed wrongly, wanting to indulge your passions.” (James 4:1-3). The reason for praying badly may be a false idea about the One to whom I pray. Father Jānis Mendriks personally experienced this ungodly state when he was faced with communist Russian torturers. Unchanged in its essence, the system of structural evil manifested itself again on 24 February 2022. That day in the morning, Russia’s barbaric war against Ukraine began. It wasn’t the only incident bringing misery and unthinkable suffering to people. It is enough to mention Chechnya, Georgia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Syria with the totally massacred Aleppo where people were not spared. Unatoned crimes repeatedly pay back and bring still new tragedies, just like Raskolnikov’s murders in Crime and Punishment by F. Dostoyevsky. Moreover, last year, in the light of Russian aggression against Ukraine, again we can clearly observe the fiasco of a jaded and tired Western culture which, cutting off its own heritage, for centuries rooted in God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, began to believe that it could create a new man, capable of creating himself according to any ideas of gender, influence, possession and dominance over others. Hence came the bubbling up of myths without ethos: myths about solidarity, the rule of law, dialogue, compromise, tolerance, ecology, human rights, etc. What’s more, besides promoting surreal theories completely detached from people’s everyday experience, they would readily remove from human experience and language not only the idea of sin – which, in fact, has already happened – but also the idea of evil, not to mention the negation of its very existence. This is just an outline of the problem which brought this great culture into a state of acedia – spiritual powerlessness. Unfortunately, these attempts always happen first on an individual dimension before they take their institutionalized shape, dressed in the comprehensive apparatus of terms, rules, regulations and authorities enforcing this new bureaucratic order, constructed beyond God and His law. We, religious, are no strangers to a state of acedia, either. We know only too well that giving up the radicalism of being a witness to the Gospel of Christ for the mediocrity of the consecrated life is one of the reasons for today’s lack of authority among ourselves, and indirectly – who knows? – in the wider

26 society. Luckily, we are protected from this spiritual apathy by our martyr brothers, including the martyrs of the communist era. They are people capable of confronting evil because they trusted God and committed themselves to Him. They nurtured in themselves the mentality of mercy – “Jesus, I trust in you”. In their openness to Jesus’ Spirit, they had courage to give up their lives for God and others. Because the mentality of mercy includes the gift of courage to spread the Gospel, trust in the omnipotence and goodness of the Creator, the imperishable testimony of a life greater than pain, sin and death. Their way of life shaped a generation of mercy. Mercy can be compared to a kind of gene which had been instilled for good in the generation raised on the life of Saint Faustina, Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Saint John Paul II and many saints and blessed, including Marians: Saint Stanislaus Papczyński with the imagination of mercy reaching Purgatory that led Father Stanislaus to entrust those fallen in the battlefields of the then Republic of Poland to God; the blessed martyrs of Rosica - Antoni Leszczewicz and Jerzy Kaszyra, with the imagination of mercy allowing them to accompany others to the last moments of their life so that they could look death in the eye with hope and courage, enter together the Glory of Christ who comes forth from the future to lead them to it; and finally, contemporary candidates for the altars, like, those already mentioned in these reflections, Jānis Mendriks, Andrzej Čikoto, Fabian Abrantowicz, Vladas Mažonas, Eugeniusz Kulesza, who with the imagination of mercy amidst communist terror, mental and physical abuse, resisted suffering and amid savagery bore witness to the human dignity of a person immersed in the grace and goodness of God. Mercy in martyrdom – ex aerumnis carceris – a slow death from torment, exhaustion, harassment in a prison or a prison camp. Although it wasn’t a sudden death for faith, those who were slowly dying were ready to accept it. Their readiness to accept suffering leading to death was an expression of the deepest faith. Mercy embraces in itself a horizon of infinity which breaks through the humanistic restriction to temporality and opens up to heaven which we pursue throughout our entire lives – where Christ is seated at God’s right hand. Mercy also verifies the value of the culture we live in. It accurately exorcises any ideas which are supposed to help man, especially humanism without Christ which, while trying to tame evil, becomes incapable of fighting it and wallowing in acedia pushing to crimes. A gene of mercy is incarnated. The Incarnated Mercy is Christ. Mercy delivered is the disciples sent by Christ, filled with His Holy Spirit which at the time of trial tells themwhat to do and say. In addition to the above-men-

27 tioned disciples of Christ, we also have contemporary heralds of the Divine Mercy – a multitude of people opening their hearts, including conscious, ordinary, humble witnesses of God’s merciful love like those who for decades grew in its mists and sought God virtually in the dark; many times finding Him in neighbours, sometimes in themselves. Ironically as it may sound, that is how God took care of His followers accompanying them in their suffering in Aleppo, Chechnya, once in Rwanda, in today’s Ukraine and many other dark places around the world. These dramatic places and times are a lectio divina, in which God reveals His name – Mercy. He does not get tired of us and our sin. It is He who seeks us, never condemning us. His wounds are the proof of love towards us sinners – it is the hour of Jesus’ death, the time to stop to call: “Jesus, I trust in You, … For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world!”. Since the time of St. Faustina, humanity has been consciously wandering the paths of mercy. As Marians, we have our little share in it. We know that Fr. Józef Jarzębowski travelled around the globe with the Diary of Sister Faustina to ultimately share this spiritual work with the world. The spiritual experience of Saint Faustina is her personal story about God’s Mercy read by our life. In the dramatic events around and inside us, we are trying to read the book of Divine Mercy to imperceptibly find ourselves in the centre of the world. Because where the Merciful God is, and we are together with Him, there is always the centre of the world, the place of spiritual formation where God throws us off our comfortable selfishness and teaches us to love like He does. Thus, we notice that the essence of the Gospel is the good news about the inconceivable Mercy of God. Mercy is the most important attribute of God – it is the pure Gospel. If so, there is nothing left to do but to accept the challenge of the testimony of faith that God is greater than spiritual numbness, more powerful than the noonday demon. He grants us His grace so that we are able to actively recognize the times and places of His visitations and join in through active love. Active love is a prophetic sign, it is the rooting of a good deed in the merciful love of God. This rooting reaches back to a baptismal consecration which, in fact, is the beginning of the only formation known to the Church: to be called to christiformitas – shaping oneself in the image of Christ – living the life that He was living. This is our path – witnessing to the life of the new man formed by the Spirit of Jesus who is the Servant of Yahweh and the Lamb giving up His life; killed and yet alive. This is our charism and mission at the same time, it is radical, we enter into all that is the Church, including those dramatic situations described above in which

28 God reveals His mercy. Those situations best describe what evangelical radicalism means – adopting the life of the Son of God wishing only to fulfil the will of the Father, accepting the ties which show the union of Christ with His Church (the evangelical counsels, the vows) and finally entering into the reality of the eschatological New Jerusalem – demonstrating that heavenly goods are already present in the world despite its imperfections and unimaginable suffering.1 Radicalism entails having a prophetic character – being a prophet. Prophecy is what marks out the life of the consecrated. They partake, like all Christians, in the priestly, kingly and prophetic mission of Christ, but their special prophetic mission is to awaken the world. To be a prophet is to recognize God’s acts in everyday life and to be able to reveal a sense of all this. “In the church, the religious are called to be prophets in particular by demonstrating how Jesus lived on this earth, and to proclaim how the kingdom of God will be in its perfection. A religious must never give up prophecy”.2 Having a prophetic character is an anticipation of the world which is yet to come and its power is from the future. If so, inspired by those living with the gene of mercy, we free ourselves from the fear that causes excessive focusing on ourselves in order to go out to meet the gift of the Gospel and to show how God creates heaven on earth, how He carries out the work of mercy towards everybody. Blessed are the merciful, blessed are the peacemakers. Questions: 1. In which difficult life events were you found by God? 2. Which facts allow you to develop the mentality of mercy? 3. What does your spiritual struggle with the noonday demon look like? 1 Cf. Lumen Gentium (LG) 44; Vita consecrata 6. 2 INTERVIEW WITH POPE FRANCIS by Fr Antonio Spadaro, https://www.vatican.va/ content/francesco/en/speeches/2013/september/documents/papa-francesco_20130921_intervista-spadaro.html (access: 20.07.2022).

29 KRZYSZTOF STĄPOR MIC Warsaw-Praga, Poland March 2023 A Marian in service of the sick on closeness in sickness and pain The Word of the Lord: Mt 25: 37-39 Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome, lacking clothes and clothe you? When did we find you sick or in prison and go to see you?” SOURCES Saint Stanislaus Papczynski, The Mystical Temple of God in: Saint Stanislaus Papczynski, Selected Writnigs, PROMIC, Warsaw, Poland, Marian Heritage, Stockbridge, MA, USA, 2022, p. 641 The remarkable work of visiting the sick is praised by our Lord and Savior Himself, who said, “[I was sick], and you visited me” (Mt 25:36) [LV]. Those who practice this work in a truly praiseworthy manner do not approach the beds of the poor and the sick with empty hands. John of God, as he is called, a most blessed man, founded an Order that has the duty and the vocation to seek out the sick who have become poor and to take care of them. In all the regions of Europe, among the Christians of true faith, this most pious Order has become so famous for its distinctive charity, that we commonly call them the Good Brothers because of their truly good work, with which they are very occupied. In many places, especially in Rome, there are houses for the sick, for whom the generosity of merciful people provides every-thing; [and] along with [providing] medicines, [this generosity] paves for itself a sure path to Heaven(...).

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