Devotion for today: Proclaim to the whole world My unfathomable mercy: continuing Poland Pilgrimage musings

Hebrews 4:16: Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Excerpt from the Diary of St. Faustina: Apostle of My mercy, proclaim to the whole world My unfathomable mercy. Do not be discouraged by the difficulties you encounter in proclaiming My mercy. These difficulties that affect you so painfully are needed for your sanctification and as evidence that this work is Mine. My daughter, be diligent in writing down every sentence I tell you concerning My mercy , because this is meant for a great number of souls who will profit from it. (Diary, Marian Press, 2012)

“On August 17, 2002, Pope John Paul II entrusted the world to The Divine Mercy when he consecrated the International Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki, a suburb of Krakow, Poland.  ‘In this shrine, I wish solemnly to entrust the world to Divine Mercy” he said in his homily. “I do so with the burning desire that the message of God’s merciful love, proclaimed here through St. Faustina, may be made 
known to all the peoples of the earth.” (ibid) This is the altar in the Shrine where Blessed John Paul II dedicated the world to the Divine Mercy. It is a beautiful chapel with the Image hanging above a tabernacle in the shape of the world, which rests at the feet of Mercy. The sculpture is of a wind-swept bush – a metaphor of man struggling with his own weakness and sinfulness; of man who can only find peace with the Merciful Jesus. (guide book description). We visited this beautiful Shrine in Poland on the second day of our pilgrimage. It sits next to the convent of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, the order which Sister Faustina joined in 1925 at the age of 20, and it was in this convent that she died. We stood beneath the window of the infirmary where she passed onto glory, viewed the cell where she lived in the convent, and then entered the breath-taking chapel, where the grace-filled image of Jesus the Divine Mercy, painted by  Adolf Hyla, is displayed above a small gold casket which houses St. Faustina’s remains.

 

Originally, this chapel was the only site of pilgrimage veneration, but the crowds became so large that the Shrine had to be built to accommodate the throngs of pilgrims (over 2,000,000 a year!) who come to venerate the image, kiss the relics of St. Faustina, have Mass said on the beautiful altar, and spend time in reflection in the upper church of the shrine, where a relic of Blessed John Paul can be venerated. 

It is difficult to walk in the footsteps of St. Faustina without reflecting on the impact of her life on the world today.  At this stop on the tour, where St. Faustina died, I came to realize another important message of our pilgrimage. First, John Paul II taught us to “Be Not Afraid.” Once we are not afraid, however, we must move into the next stage, which is demonstrated in Faustina’s life: “Here I am Lord, and I come to do your will.” Her yes to being Jesus’ secretary and recording His message for the generations to come, the generations that would see the horrors of World War II, the generations that would see the rise of secularism and the decline of Christianity, the generations who would “buy the lie” and live in sin, and the generations that would exist side by side in societies with people who would kill babies because it was their “right” to do so, her yes to spread the message, have the image painted and record Jesus’ words came at a great price. She was ostracized, thought mad, criticized and suffered great physical pain, yet she never wavered in her mission to be Jesus’ messenger to the poor souls who were unaware of His great love and mercy. If we want to be thrilled in the message of “Be not afraid” we must be willing to step into the “Yes” of St. Faustina. The world will not like us very much – even the Church buried the message and the image for many years - yet we must not waiver from the mission God gives to each of us.
 As we walked through the town of Glogowiec where she was born, stood in the tiny two room house where she grew up, visited the church where she was baptized and received her sacraments, and even knocked on the same door in Warsaw at the convent where she first entered her order, I could not help but be impressed with the simplicity and ordinariness of St. Faustina's life. She only worked as a gardener, a door keeper, a baker.  Such a simple life, such a simple soul, yet she served as the messenger of the greatest message of the world today: there is mercy for all sinners. We can never think we are too small or too weak or too insignificant: God tells us in the above passage that He can use those very qualities so that the world knows it is Him and not us. Be not afraid, and say yes to God. In a world filled with choice, Choose God.

Devotion for today: “There was a man…” continuing thoughts on a pilgrimage to Poland

John 1:6-8: There was a man sent by whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

Above the door of the museum in Niepokalanow (a monastery Maximilian Kolbe founded which means “City of the Immaculata” and which housed over 700 friars), where the story of Maximilian Kolbe is told through photos, paintings, documents and even the actual Franciscan habit he had on the day the Nazis came and took him to Auschwitz, is the quote, “There was a man….” Obviously linked to the above Bible passage, the comparison to John the Baptist is clear. St. Maximilian Kolbe had a prophetic mission. It began at the age of 14 when he had a vision of the Virgin Mary offering him two crowns, one red (martyrdom) and one white (purity). She asked him which one he wanted in his life, and he told her that he wanted both. He was granted his wish. He entered the minor seminary of the Conventual Franciscans in Lvív (then Poland, now Ukraine), near his birthplace, became a novice at age 16 and was ordained at 24. He was profoundly devoted to Mary, and used her intervention to help him combat “indifference” which he saw as the “deadliest poison of the day.” History proved him correct, and we can all learn from this. Bemoaning the condition of the world today is not enough. If we do not act decisively to change current events, they will change us. My visit to Auschwitz, which I will write about later, confirms that idea with no room for doubt.

Maximilian founded the Militia of the Immaculata, people who were determined to fight evil by living lives of witness to the good life, work and suffering. He then founded the magazine “Knight of the Immaculata” which he placed under Mary’s protection and which he used to preach the Good News to the world. Between his militia and magazine, Maximilian had over 1,000,000 people in his army. When the Nazis overran Poland in 1939, they bombed his beloved monastery and took him prisoner. We were able to view his habit because the Nazis made him strip it off before they took him away to Auschwitz where he offered his life in exchange for that of a man who had a family. After two weeks of starvation, he was still alive, singing and praising God in the cell we were able to view, and so the Nazis injected him with carbolic acid. The man whose life he saved lived for about 50 more years and spread the faith wherever he went.Here is a picture of John Paul II embracing him!

In the museum are paintings of Maximilian’s  life in Auschwitz, showing him hearing confessions, being beaten in the work field, praying in his starvation  cell, being injected while singing God’s praises, and then, in the most profound picture in the series,depicts him crucified in his prison uniform. At first glance it looks as though he is on the cross alone, but upon closer examination, the face of Christ appears over his shoulder, and you realize He is on the cross with Maximilian, holding him, embracing him, loving him. The final picture is of Maximilian and many prisoners ascending to heaven from the crematorium, arms outstretched, faces aglow, soaring to God in heaven. The message is quite clear: after the crucifixion comes the resurrection. What a powerful testimony to “the man” and what a lasting message to us all!

There is a Basilica to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Niepokalanow (pictured above) which totally surrounds the visitor in peace and tranquility. Focus centers on a beautiful statue of Immaculate Mary, 

and a side altar honors St. Joseph and little Jesus, which are surrounded by two huge mosaics of Divine Mercy and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Even the doors contain 24 bas relief images of Mary taken from around the world. The Basilica honors St. Francis, St. Anthony, and St. Maximilian Kolbe in statues and side altars.

St. Maximilian Kolbe teaches us to be not afraid, to accept the challenge to change the world, and to be willing to give up one’s life, either physically, spiritually, socially, financially, or however God’s asks us to do it, and then face the resurrection of our soul with joy! The days of comfortable discipleship are over. If we are only willing to serve God and His people on our terms, telling God the limits on our service, we are of no use to Him. We need bold witnesses today, filled with the love of Mary and the strength of the Holy Spirit, to bring the world back to God. Pray for strength and fortitude and openness. St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.

Read more: http://vivificat1.blogspot.com/2009/08/today-we-remember-st-maximilian-kolbe.html#ixzz2aHUIzaUW

Novena Prayer to
St. Maximilian Kolbe

O Lord Jesus Christ, who said, "greater love than this no man has that a man lay down his life for his friends,"
through the intercession of St. Maximilian Kolbe whose life illustrated such love, we beseech you to grant us our petitions . . .
(here mention the requests you have).

Through the Militia Immaculata movement, which Maximilian founded, he spread a fervent devotion to Our Lady throughout the world. He gave up his life for a total stranger and loved his persecutors, giving us an example of unselfish love for all men - a love that was inspired by true devotion to Mary.
Grant, O Lord Jesus, that we too may give ourselves entirely without reserve to the love and service of our Heavenly Queen in order to better love and serve our fellowman in imitation of your humble servant, Maximilian. Amen.

(Say 3 Hail Marys and a Glory Be)

Read more:http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/novena/kolbe.htm#ixzz2aHqKdnDd

World Youth Day 2016 will be in Krakow, Poland!!!!! Praise God!!

Devotion for today:…faith is open to the “We” of the Church

Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Wadowice, birthplace of Karol Wojtyla (the building on the right is where he was born)

Ephesians 4:4-5: There is one body and one Spirit… one faith

 It is impossible to believe on our own. Faith is not simply an individual decision which takes place in the depths of the believer’s heart, nor a completely private relationship between the "I" of the believer and the divine "Thou", between an autonomous subject and God. By its very nature, faith is open to the "We" of the Church; it always takes place within her communion (Lumen Fidei).

The question of truth is really a question of memory, deep memory, for it deals with something prior to ourselves and can succeed in uniting us in a way that transcends our petty and limited individual consciousness. It is a question about the origin of all that is, in whose light we can glimpse the goal and thus the meaning of our common path (Lumen Fidei)

There is great power in unity. We see it in the coverage of World Youth Day this week, and I saw it on my pilgrimage. Everyday life keeps us quite divisive these days; we mingle with people who verbally oppose our faith and our belief in God and in His Church. This is not the era of support for Catholics. Christian Persecution takes place daily yet is rarely covered in the secular media. Tremendous faith events are occurring in societies around the world, yet the gag order on the media limits the coverage of these events. We need ways to remember that our faith is something that is shared with our brothers and sisters around the world. It is not a private “God and me” affair.

 In the encyclical begun by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and completed by Pope Francis I, cited above, we are reminded that we need communion with our fellow Catholics. We need to seek ways to be reminded of the faith of our fathers, the faith of the persecuted, and the faith of the Church today, which, by the way, is alive and well. That is what a pilgrimage does for you. It unites you with your fellow faith- travelers, and it places you in environments filled with believers unabashedly and joyfully professing their love and devotion to Jesus and His mother.

I experienced this in a profound way in Poland. The history of the country is just plain sad; it has been conquered, partitioned, occupied, and for a good while did not even exist. Yet the faith of the people remained strong. It was their national identity, and the force that kept them going.

 When John Paul II returned to Poland in 1979, this time as Pope, he addressed this plight of his people. George Weigel, in his book Witness to Hope, tells us:

Then he addressed his beloved brothers and sisters, his dear fellow countrymen, whom he greeted on this special day “with the same words I used on October 16 last year (when he became pope) to greet those present in St. Peter’s Square: Praised be Jesus Christ!” That was how he had learned to greet fellow Poles during his life among them, and that was how he came to them now. Poland had been denied its history and culture by five years of Nazi occupation and thirty-three years of communist hegemony. Now he, a son of Poland, would give people back what was their s by birthright.”

The Polish people’s love for John Paul II is an inspiration in itself. Nowhere have I ever seen so many statues, images, paintings and photographs of a religious figure. Parks, public places, churches and shrines all display a reminder of Poland’s favorite son. This is expressed so beautifully in the town of Wadowice, where John Paul II was born and spent his early years. He stated upon his return to this town in 1999:

“Once again, during my service to the universal Church in the See of Saint Peter, I come to my native town of Wadowice. With great emotion I gaze upon this city of my childhood years, which witnessed my first steps, my first words…. The city of my childhood, my family home, the church of my Baptism . . . I wish to cross these hospitable thresholds, bow before my native soil and its inhabitants, and utter the words of greeting given to family members upon on their return from a long journey: "Praised be Jesus Christ!" (Homily of His Holiness John Paul II, Wadowice, Wednesday, 16 June 1999)

 We were able to see the house at 7 Koscielna Street where John Paul II was born and raised in a second story apartment. Most thrilling was our visit to the Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary where he was baptized, confirmed, served as altar boy and prayed daily before the miraculous picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Hope. The left aisle contains the baptismal font where baby Karol Wojtyla was baptized; we were able to celebrate Mass in a beautiful side altar in the right aisle. In the town, we walked his streets and even sampled the delicious cream cakes he enjoyed after successfully completely his exams!  In this small town the faithful joyfully attend Mass, visit the Blessed Sacrament, and support each other in their faith. I felt I had stepped into a tiny part of heaven.

We need each other in order to experience the joy of our faith. We need to seek Catholics alive and on fire with their faith to remember that it is the only aspect of our lives that will be with us through the hardships and trials we face today. We cannot be immersed in secular concerns and find God. We must seek Him in each other, unite with each other and become strong people of faith, as the people of Poland did in the many times of their distress and persecution.

Christ lives in each of us, and He planned it so that each of us will make Him alive in the world. As John Paul II said on his first visit to Poland after becoming Pope: …so…I beg you: never lose your trust, do not be defeated, do not be discouraged…I beg you: have trust, and… and always seek spiritual power from Him from whom countless generations of our fathers and mothers have found it. Never detach yourselves from Him. Never lose your spiritual freedom… Never disdain charity, which is “the greatest of these” and which shows itself through the Cross….(Witness to Hope, George Weigel, HarperCollins Books, 1999).

The best way to never lose spiritual freedom is to see it in practice. The people of Poland taught me a great lesson… “Faith takes place…in the communion of the Church.”