On the eve of birth, January 10, 2021 in the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus in Wrocław during the Holy Mass. at. At 12:30pm, we will thank God for the 197th birthday of the Apostle of Mercy and the founder of our Congregation, the Servant of God, Fr. John Schneider.
In the Holy Mass you can also participate through the website. Link below.
http://www.uniwersytecki.archidiecezja.wroc.pl/
We invite you.
Kyrie eleison! Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison!
Christ, hear us! Christ, graciously hear us!
Heavenly God the Father – have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
Holy Spirit, God – have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us.
Saint Joseph – pray for us.
Servant of God, Father John, intercede for us / 2x
Faithful Servant of Christ – intercede for us,
Father John, sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit,
Humble Son of the Virgin Mary,
Brave Apostle of Mercy,
Poor son of the Silesian land,
Through Mary’s Heart, ask God for grace for us 2x
The grace of a living faith, – ask for us, Father John,
Faithful fulfillment of God’s Will,
Praying hearts and a desire to glorify God,
Hearts sensitive to the lost, abandoned and in need,
The gift of new vocations,
Servant of God, Father John, intercede for us / 2x
Father, who entrusted everything to Mary Immaculate, pray for us,
Father, whose heart was rich in prayer and trust,
Father who loved poverty above all riches in the world,
Father who called us to live in unity, harmony and love,
Father, who dedicated your life to saving souls,
Servant of God, Father John, Schneider intercede for us / 2x
Promoter of prayer and entrustment, intercede for us,
Priest calling to save souls,
Guardian of morally lost souls,
Father of abandoned, sick and wronged women,
Founder of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate,
Through the Heart of Mary, ask God for grace for us 2x
Desire to serve morally endangered women – ask for us, Father John,
Perseverance in hardships and adversities,
Consent, love and unity in our communities,
Faithfulness to the charism that has been brought and given to us,
Divine Mercy at the hour of death,
Servant of God, Father John, intercede for us / 2x
Father, who gave your life to Christ the High Priest, pray for us,
Father who encouraged us to be handmaids of servants,
Father, who followed the path of God’s humility and love,
Father who called for our homes to become a family home for women in need,
Father, who showed by your life example how to serve morally endangered women,
Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, spare us, Lord.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, hear us. Lord.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Let’s pray
God, who inflamed the heart of your priest, John Schneider, with your great love for the Eucharist and total entrustment to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, please make him an intercessor of our affairs before you. Lord, bring this servant to the altars, so that we may serve You better, and grant us the graces we trust with trust through His intercession. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
End
You are the source of our faith – we praise you God.
You are the source of our hope – we praise you God.
You are the source of our love – we praise you God.
text: S.M. Małgorzata Cur SMI,
S.M. Barbara Mroziak SMI
Imprimature
For private recitation
With the consent of the Wrocław Metropolitan Curia
L.Dz. 1105/2020
Wrocław, November 17, 2020
It all started at a community meeting before Advent. One sister said: “… let’s do something for Mary”, it somehow strongly corresponded with my desire to make a 33-day retreat in the community and surrender to Jesus through the hands of Mary, as proposed by St. Louis Maria Grignion de Montfort. And so it happened, as a community but individually, who also had such a desire, on November 29, began a retreat in which Fr. Marcin Modrzyński with his reflections (cf. One Heart 33 days with Mary to Jesus).
We share a piece of today’s service …
“Immaculate Mary, Bride of the Holy Spirit, we greet you and praise the fruit of your womb. We come to you, Mary, after 33 days of retreat, to tell you: Tota Tua, all yours. Ark of the Covenant, we want to hide in Your Heart, because It is the safest place where Satan has no access. Hide us in your womb, so that you may give birth to us anew, to a new life.
Mary, by the act of giving ourselves to You, we want to say that we trust … giving You everything, we believe that You, as the best Mother, will take care of our every need, and above all, that we may be like You and that we faithfully fulfill God’s Will and they have not lost eternal life.
Mary, Mother of beautiful and pure love, we want to do everything with You, through You and in You, so that You may be better known and loved, that Your Immaculate Heart may overcome!
Mary, as a Community, but also, each individually wants to bring you the act of entrustment and accept from You a white rose, a symbol of purity and beauty, humility and fidelity, a symbol of the grace that you ask for us, so that we may persevere on the way we follow and today in a sense, which we are re-starting.
Tota Tua Mary! All yours!
S.M. Agnieszka Plasło
In Epiphany I have three questions to share
What are you seeking?
They are searching the truth. They are searching because they have seen the star. They saw the star because they were looking to the sky at night. In order to see the star, we have to look to sky at night. The nights of our life, nights of disappoitments, nights of difficulties, nights of sadness, nights of pain… We have to look to the sky, we have to look up… To see the star. That is what we read in the first reading. Arise, shine out, Jerusalem, for you light has come, the glory of the Lord is rising on you, though night still covers the earth and darkness the peoples. Take note! The word of God says, “your light”. My light in my difficulties… This is what I search… It’s the Baby born in Bethlehem.
Where are you seeking?
There are two options. A way that leads to the place of Herod or a way that leads to Bethlehem. When we follow our interests, our wishes, our glory, our prejudices, our ego we will reach the palace of Herod. But when we follow the star, the star of love of the God, when we follow the way of faith, when we follow the Church, we will reach the manger in Bethlehem. To search our own interests and reaching in the palace could be interesting and dramatic. Consultations, Meetings, Discussion etc… But following the star in the darkness is divine and joyful. We read, “the sight of the star filled them with delight”. So, as we celebrate this feast, we have to analyse, Where are we seeking? Are we seeking our ego ora re we seeking in the path of the star?
Why are you seeking?
To pay homage. „going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary and falling to their knees they did him homage. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh”. In adoration they give their gifts. The same, we in adoring the God, we seek to give our treasures. That means, first we must obtain the treasures, gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh – gift of thoughts pure like gold, gift of words pleasant like frankincense and gift of actions authentic like myrrh. When we have these gifts in the treasure box of our heart, we willbe able to pay real homage to the Baby Jesus. Let’s see what we have in our heart. Each time we come to the chapel is like the three kings entering the manger. Open up your heart and give Jesus the gifts of your thoughts, words and actions.
Don Giorgio
The question asked by the handmaid of God, Sister Maria Dulcissima: “What does Christmas mean for the soul?” and to which she also responds, I was interested enough to see how she experienced Christmas. There are also interesting places, facts, people and events that had a real impact on the formation of the spiritual personality of the candidate for the altars. The prayer with psalms that we recite every day as consecrated persons helps us in this meditation. Psalms shape us, help us grow internally. May prayer with psalms lead us to celebrate the birth of Jesus, as Sister Maria Dulcissima did. This time we will learn about the Christmas surprise to increase the joy of Sr.M. Tobii for the sake of Jesus. It will be about the healing power of the sacrament of the sick, about its unearthly contacts with St. Teresa of the Child Jesus, about friendship, about longing for heaven, which made her feel permanently due to relapses of the disease.
“I always put the Lord before my eyes, I will not waver, because He is at my right hand. That is why my heart rejoices, my soul rejoices … ”(Ps 16: 8-9).
In 1920, the Congregation of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate was established in the Parish of Saint Joseph on the Consensus. Helena Hoffmann eagerly visited the sisters who lived there, and because she was agile and skillful, she quickly integrated into the life of the religious community. The girl tried to make friends with the sisters, helped them, listened to their conversations, and watched the life of the new religious family. The Marian sisters in Zgoda ran the Metallurgical Health Center and a kindergarten; they worked in the parish church to which Helena was emotionally attached. Yes, Helena was interested in religious life, she devoted a lot of time to helping the sisters in their tasks, but everything she did, she tried to do for God’s glory. She has been helping in the parish for a long time because she felt obliged to help – also to priests. We can imagine her keen involvement in the decor of the parish church just before Christmas and how much she tried to meet the expectations of her parents. Her pure soul and trusting faith were admired by many who knew her. Helena had a good heart and crazy ideas. It happened that at Christmas in 1920 she wanted to surprise a kindergarten teacher, Sr. M. Tobii Kujeth SMI. Secretly from the sisters, together with her friend, she asked mothers who had brought their children to kindergarten to help her prepare a gift – a surprise for her sister. The women reacted positively to this idea and the girls collected money for which they bought shoes for Sister. They brought a gift to Sr.M. Tobii with great satisfaction and joy in her heart, which probably made the recipient smile as well. Helena lived in the presence of God, put the Lord before her eyes, and her heart intended to make Jesus happy. This girlish, pure soul of a child undoubtedly attracted the attention of Heavenly Father.
“And my soul will rejoice in the Lord, and delight in his salvation” (Ps 35: 9).
The first symptoms of a serious illness in candidate Helena Hoffmann appeared on Christmas Eve in 1928. At that time, she was at the religious house in Henryków, where she was referred due to malaise. S. M. Honorata Mazur SMI, Assistant General, mentions in her notes that the candidate Helena did not tolerate the climate of a big city, and therefore she was sent to the countryside. There, healthier air, rest and helping the sisters with housework were to help her regain her spiritual and physical balance. On January 3, 1929, she became seriously ill, and the doctor Krischke from Henryków diagnosed encephalitis in his patient. Helena lost consciousness, then regained her briefly the next day. Her state of health was very serious and the doctor did not give her a chance to recover, therefore her mother, Albina Hoffmann, was notified, who soon came to see her daughter. The mother cried at the condition of her child. Mrs. Albina was grateful to the sisters for the care over Helena, which consisted of keeping watch with her day and night.
Albina Hoffmann witnessed the conversation of daughter with St. Teresa of the Child Jesus. She called the sisters so that they too could witness the extraordinary encounter between these two related souls. Interestingly, Helena could not speak during the day, and communicated with the surroundings only with the help of a tablet and a pencil, so her mother was very impressed by Helena’s call: “These …, These … Teresa, You’re coming!” During this great indisposition, Helena received the sacrament of anointing the sick. The danger of death was over, and she experienced spiritual strength in her infirmity. In the following days, she felt so well that her mother was able to return from Henryków to Zgody.
“… my soul will live for Him …” (Psalm 22:30).
A similar situation took place on Christmas 1932 in Zgoda. After midnight Mass in the church of st. Józefa, Helena Hoffmann fell ill again, and her condition deteriorated so much that on December 30, 1932, the local vicar, Fr. Ignacy Rembowski gave her the sacrament of the sick. He asked her for one last wish. In response, he heard: “If I could say again what I said with Sister Maria Lazaria.” Fr. Rembowski informed about the illness and the wish of the “Bride of the Cross” from the Motherhouse. In response to this telegram, Sr. M. Lazaria, who found her almost dying. During the meeting, both Sisters were happy that they could pray together. Sister Dulcissima suffered from a great headache and discomfort in the form of constant vomiting. Then she asked the Lord Jesus for death. This state lasted until January 5, 1933. On the Feast of the Epiphany, Sr.M. Lazarii about the event: “I saw the Child Jesus very beautiful, in long clothes, down to the ground, with curly hair, coming to me with light in hand: it was passed through many people in the chapel to my cell and said:” You should be light “. When I was enjoying the beautiful Child and I wanted to bring him a lantern made, he went away. ” Interestingly, from that day on, the health condition of the “Bride of the Cross” began to slowly improve. She still felt bad, but according to St. Teresa of the Child Jesus (whom she heard and saw in her dreams) was preparing for her journey from Wrocław to Brzezie on the Oder.
“… Like a weaned child with his mother, like a silent child, is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord now and forever ”(Ps 131: 2a-3).
Christmas in 1934 was for Sr. M. Sometimes we dulcissize with grace and specific reflections on the humility and love of the Child Jesus. The handmaid of God stood before God in prayer like a child and cried. At times, she was sad because she saw that the Child Jesus was abandoned. She was sorry that little Jesus “is coming to save the world, because there is still so much evil in it” (Christmas carol). She suffered because He had no place among the people. She also suffered because she noticed a lack of simplicity and childhood spirit in the religious community.
“I reach out to you; my soul thirsts for you like a dry land ”(Ps 143: 6).
The celebration of Christmas in 1935 became for Sr. M. Dulcissima a time of union with God. She suffered a lot. Her spiritual guide, Father Józef Schweter, CSsR, noted: “By becoming a completely child, [the“ Bride of God ”] could receive the favors of Christmas in its richest dimension, although externally immersed in bitter goblets. The heart of Sister [Maria] Dulcissima has now received a mystical wound.
“You are my God, I want to thank You, my God, I want to exalt You. Praise the Lord, for He is good; for his love endures forever ”(Ps 118: 28-29).
In the photo we can see the figure of the baby Jesus, which belonged to the “Bride of the Cross”. This figurine probably took its place in the room of God’s handmaid, and today it is a valuable memento placed in the Memorial Room of the monastery in Brzezie on the Oder. It is also worthwhile today, during the celebration of Christmas, to look with love at the Child Jesus and to give voice to the prayer of sister Dulcissima’s heart, and to ask:
Child Jesus, give little, give only one thing that can make our hearts happy, do not give riches that will not remain, do not give a glow that melts, give only one, Your love, O You sweet, dear Child!
What does Christmas mean to your soul? Christmas means: the coming, the rebirth of Jesus Christ in our souls. Your heart should also be adorned with the graces of Holy Communion, because He will also knock on you and ask for reception. What do we want to give him?
S.M. Małgorzata Cur SMI
