193 and how very often the people that I bury are not well known, are not well appreciated by society. I remember one particular funeral I did, and it was for a woman who had already buried her husband and she was absolutely alone in the world. She had no relatives to the best of my knowledge. At her funeral, there were only three people present. Two of them were her next door neighbors. And the third one was me. And that woman whom I used to take communion to every week and who I would sit and have tea with about an hour every week … for whatever reason, I don’t know because I didn’t really feel as if I was that close to her—left all of her money to St. Peter’s Parish in Kenosha. And that woman was Martha Crosky and some of you have said Masses for her because she left us over $25,000 in Mass stipends. She left us $125,000 to help renovate St. Peter’s in Kenosha. I had no idea that she had any money. I thought she was living on retirement checks and the government. But it reminds me that very often, we don’t know whose lives we are touching and how they will in turn become a blessing back to us. When I look at Blessed Stanislaus and the way in which he brought new life into the life of those parents, into the life of that infant in the womb that had died and then revived. I think of how many people seem to be on the verge of spiritual death or how many people seem to be on the verge of emotional death, on the verge of economic death these days. And sometimes they are considering suicide and I think if I can paraphrase a common saying in the United States, what would Fr. Stanislaus do in this situation? And I try, to the best of my ability, to deal with the people as I believe Fr. Stanislaus would deal with them: with love, with care, with concern. Without looking out for myself, “am I going to get two dollars back out of this?” This is where I also fi nd my own call to sanctity. That it’s not the two dollars, it’s not even a sense of warm regard or human respect. It is the call to become part of the communion of saints, the living and the dead. I became Provincial at the death of Mark Garrow and not a day goes by that I don’t both pray to Fr. Mark as well as pray for Fr. Mark. Obviously, [he was] well beloved by so many of you. I honestly think those three aspects, life, death, and the call to sanctity are what Fr. Stanislaus has done to give more meaning to my life. Kazimierz Chwalek, MIC U.S.A., Stockbridge, Provincial Vicar, Convention Translator I am grateful to God that I was able to participate in this historical Convention. With great joy I listened to each one of you sharing your experience of
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