90 The Gospel, with its kerygmatic message, is a fascinating answer for people tormented by suffering and the prospect of death. This message needs to be renewed. It always means a concern to make the ministry of the herald of the Gospel less secular, to be a consecrated person, more focused on obedience to the Revelation; it means greater discipline, a greater strictness of morals, clearer and stronger teaching. The kerygmatic renewal is about bringing the Church closer to the original message of Christ the Lord that the Holy Spirit leads people to Christ and that there is no other Christ than the One presented by the Church who understands the faith in Him expressed in the form of dogma as the truth that obliges the conscience.3 Father Founder, St. Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary Papczyński, shared this kerygmatic message with us pointing to the Mystery of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. In the November liturgy, we particularly contemplate the triumph of the Church remembering the saints who ascended to the glory of heaven and those who still remain in purification in purgatory as well as those who are still pilgrims on earth. An integral part of a pilgrimage is a struggle. The hope for eternal life is forged in the midst of the earthly reality; alongside happy moments, there are also those marked with pain and tears. There are questions about suffering – why God does not prevent it, maybe He wants us to suffer? We need to talk about pain as a part of the happiness which comes from eternity and is Christ’s life, free from death forever. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis’s words, we can say that He wants us to be able to love and be loved. He wants us to grow up. He makes us the gift of suffering. Pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world. A man of hope is like a block of stone...out of which the sculptor carves the form of a man. The blows of His chisel, which hurt us so much, are what make us perfect.4 The painting, which I would like to propose for meditation, is the work of Cecco del Caravaggio whose real name is Francesco Buoneri or Boneri. Art historians think he may be a servant of Michelangelo Merisi, also called Caravaggio, or his artistic assistant, model, or maybe even an apprentice, most probably the only one. The suggested painting is, the Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian. Fortunately, in the context of our meditation, he is the patron saint of the times of plague – he used to be invoked to protect people against the pestilence. He was especially popular in Venice. As always, in the paintings of Caravaggio and his imitators, we are looking at a strong 3 Cf. Paweł Lisicki, Luter. Ciemna strona rewolucji, Fronda, Warsaw 2017, p. 23. 4 Cf. Richard Attenborough, Shadowlands, 1985.
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