Jan 31, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Thursday of week 4 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Mark 6:7-13
“Then he summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs giving them authority over the unclean spirits”. Jesus is sending the apostles with the mission to preach repentance, to cast our devils, and to cure sick people. He wants to extend His mission with a personal touch. Jesus, the second person of the Holy Trinity, could have done a miracle to extend His mission to anyone and to everywhere. But He prefers to do through His apostles and disciples to have His mission extended to other with the same principle of incarnation. That is why the two conditions: Take nothing and stay in the same place. Take nothing because the only resource of this mission is the grace of God. It must be totally dependent on God and His providence. It’s a radical dependence on God not even to have the possibility of a spare tunic. Then to stay in one place. This is to have a true interpersonal profound relationship not just a superficial relationship with persons. If you are moving from one place of stay to another, there is no profound relationship with anyone. Only just fleeing and shallow relationships with the people you are interacting. Let’s reflect: To continue the mission of Jesus we must have radical dependence of God and profound relationship with others.
Jan 31, 2024 | SPIRITUALITY
Dear Brothers in priestly vocation,
Dear Sisters of Mary Immaculate, so close to my heart,
Brothers and sisters in Christ the Lord,
Today we thank you for the life, for your vocation and for this beautiful work of the servant of God John Schneider. Two centuries have passed since his birth, and yet this Work is very relevant today. We can say: this is the gift of the Holy Spirit, a breath that lasts to this day. When we look at the attitude and life of the Servant of God John Schneider, we can say that how closely it corresponds to today’s liturgy of the Word. But why? The answer is very simple. Because the Servant of God, Fr. John Schneider was a man of the Word of God. He lived the gospel and shared the gospel with others. And today, my dears, we are witnessing an important event in the life of John the Baptist and in the lives of his disciples. Let’s say that today we see John the Baptist standing with his disciples. He’s standing. One would like to say: he has reached a certain point where his mission ends. He fulfilled his task. This attitude of stopping is not something passive. He has stopped because he is waiting. He is waiting for Jesus Christ and the moment comes when Jesus passes by and then John the Baptist says: behold the Lamb of God, behold the One for whom I am waiting and for whom you are waiting. John stands waiting while Jesus moves on. John prepared the way for Jesus and on this path Jesus Christ continues to walk. This is the Lamb of God. This is the One! John the Baptist, as if he wanted to say to his disciples: I can give you no more. Follow Him. Keep going, because He will lead you, and the disciples followed Jesus, and so began the journey of vocation, the journey of faith for Andrew and the second disciple. We don’t know what his name was. And this path of faith is a path of vocation, because vocation is a path of faith. It has specific stages. The first stage is the desire to follow Jesus. They went because they saw Him, and then a dialogue begins. Jesus asks a question. What are you looking for? These two disciples answer this question from Jesus with their own question, the question of their heart. Where do you live? And Jesus says, come and see. The next stage of the path of vocation: They followed Him, saw where He lived, and stayed with Him. What was the effect of this encounter with Jesus? Testimony of faith. They go and say: We have found the Messiah. They say this to Peter, whom they brought to Jesus. And then Peter’s calling. Are you Simon, son of John? Your name will be Cephas, Peter. Beloved is a summary of the journey of faith and vocation of Andrew, the second disciple and Peter. Looking at today’s gospel, we can say that our task is, on the one hand, to be John the Baptist who prepares the way and points to Jesus. And he doesn’t hold on to himself. John says, he is the Messiah. This is the Lamb of God and this is the first task on the path of our faith and on the path of our vocation, but on the other hand we are constantly disciples of Jesus, like these two who followed him. The path with Jesus, as we said to ourselves: this is the path of faith today. Just as Jesus asked Andrew and the other disciple, Jesus asks us a question. A very important question. Concerning the meaning and essence of our faith. Jesus asks us: what are we looking for? That is, what are our desires? What are our expectations on the path of following Jesus? Do we want to get to know Jesus on this path? Do we want to see where Jesus lives? And do we want to enter His house? And do we want to be with Jesus in this house? Looking at today’s world and probably our lives, because each of us has our own expectations, we have our own plans, we have our own dreams. And today Jesus asks, what are you looking for? What do you want? It’s not only about our feelings, but also about our specific attitude to life. We will see that from what is external, Jesus wants to invite us to enter his house, to enter inside. What does it mean? [It means] that on the path of faith Jesus wants to enter into a personal relationship with each of us. Jesus invites us to his home. Dear brothers and sisters, who is invited to your home? You don’t invite a stranger into your home. You invite someone close to your home, someone you trust. That’s why in today’s gospel Jesus treats us as someone very close, he treats us as his family, he invites us to his home, and in this house Jesus has no secrets from us. Let’s see that these two disciples who followed Jesus and stayed in his house they had to experience something special , they had to experience something amazing in this house of Jesus. Because after this meeting in Jesus’ house, they went and testified about Jesus. They say to Peter: We have found the Messiah. This is God’s Anointed One. And they brought this Peter to Jesus.
Brothers and sisters,
Can we say today: we have found the Messiah? Are we leading others to Jesus today? In the world in which we live, following Jesus, there are different expectations, and Jesus invites us to his home. This home is the Church and this is the place where we meet Jesus Christ. Do we, in this Church, in this house of Jesus, want to respect what is His property? What is the property of Jesus’ house? Prayer, word and sacraments. And now let’s put in context what we have said so far. The life of the servant of God, Fr. John Schneider, fits into the context of today’s gospel. 200 years after his birth and looking at his life again we see, on the one hand, that his life was following the example of John the Baptist, who pointed to Jesus: this is the Lamb of God. This was his life. He never succumbed to the temptation of cheap popularity to keep himself. This is the Lamb of God. On the other hand, he was a constant disciple of Jesus until the end of his life, who got to know Jesus, lived in His house, which was the Church, and led others to this House. Born on January 11, 1824. Baptized on January 13. And let’s see that this is not a coincidence: today’s gospel, which talks about John the Baptist, because the spiritual guide of the servant of God, Father John Schneider, was John the Baptist and, on the other hand, being a disciple of Jesus in the year 1848. After graduating from university, he entered the seminary and that was the moment of mutual questions. On the one hand he saw Jesus and followed him, and Jesus asked him: What are you looking for? The servant of God asked [Jesus], where do you live? He went and lived with Jesus in the house of Jesus Christ. The Church in Wrocław became this home. On July 1, 1849, he was ordained a priest. The first primary Holy Mass [is celebrated] in our cathedral in Wrocław. And then further ministries, places of pointing to Jesus Christ. The Church of Our Lady of the Sands and finally this wonderful, beautiful temple dedicated to the Name of Jesus. We will see that in all these places of service in the Church of Jesus Christ, the voice of a zealous priest was heard saying: we have found the Messiah! This was his testimony of life. It was a showcase of his faith. We have found the Messiah! And whoever finds the Messiah does not keep Him for himself. He brought others to Jesus. What characterized the life, ministry of faith and vocation of the Servant of God John Schneider was, to put it in modern terms, or was just in the language of the Holy Father Francis. Pastoral ministry of presence. And when you are there, you see a lot. The Servant of God John Schneider noticed first of all poor people. And among these poor and needy people, women who found themselves in a tragic moral situation occupied a special place in his life. It wasn’t an easy time. Therefore, the young priest John Schneider had, first of all, an excellent understanding of the situation. Today we can learn from him how to discern the signs of the times and how to respond to them in the light of the Word of God. He saw very clearly these problems related to the situation of women and girls, who are often exploited. There were so many problems that he knew perfectly well that he couldn’t handle it alone. Therefore, responding to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he founded a beautiful work of helping those in need, which he dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and then the Religious Congregation of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate was founded. Well, you can do more. This is what a disciple of Jesus Christ is. He points and becomes a disciple. Disciple, missionary. And today, when we look after two hundred years at the work of his life, or at God’s work in which God used the servant of God, Father John Schneider, we see beauty, the path of faith. We see the journey of faith of a faithful priest, but also of a priest experienced with great suffering. A priest who was misunderstood by many, but above all we have the image of a priest who met Jesus and followed Him. He became a witness of His presence. The priest who gave priority to Jesus Christ, saying: Behold the Lamb of God, follow Him.
In view of the life and ministry of the Servant of God John Schneider, dear brothers and sisters, let us ask the Good God today, in this temple where he was a shepherd, that there will never be a shortage of people whose lives will follow the example of the Servant of God, Fr. John Schneider with a story about God’s Mercy, so that there will never be a shortage of faithful priests who point to Jesus Christ and follow Him. Amen.
Father Bishop Jacek Kiciński CMF
Wrocław, 04/01/2024
Jan 30, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Saint John Bosco, Priest
Wednesday of week 4 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Matthew 18:1-5
“I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And so, the one who makes himself as little as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven”. This is the logic of the Kingdom of God. We must change and become like the children of God. How to change? Jesus himself is explaining it. You must make yourself a little child. This is the way to be greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. So, again, the question comes: how to become oneself like a child? This can be achieved only by emptying yourself from everything that makes you think that you are important, and you are great. Whatever you are, you are a son or a daughter of God. You are a child of God. To live this fundamental truth is the first step in becoming a child. When we try to live this fundamental truth that we are children of God, everything in our life becomes relative to this fact. Children stay in the house of the Father, children live with the Father, children follow the Father. So we recognize our condition of being sons and daughters of God and we try to live as a child of God, we are in the Kingdom of God. Let’s reflect: Recognize your truth as a son or daughter of God and live as His child to be in the kingdom of God
Jan 29, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Tuesday of week 4 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Mark 5:21-43
“Who touched me?” This is a question which Jesus asks and turns around and looking for the person. Jesus is God and He is not a power producing machine or just a miracle working machine. He wants to have a personal relationship with the person who touched Him with faith. He wants to know that person. He is not ready to listen to the disciples. So, his question goes from “my clothes” to “me”. Jesus turned round in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ His disciples said to him, ‘You see how the crowd is pressing round you and yet you say, “Who touched me?”’ With all the crowd around Him, He is not giving up in His search. But he continued to look all round to see who had done it. This is Jesus. He continues to look all round, all around to see who touched Him. He never gives up. He continues to look around. Let’s reflect: Jesus continues to look around to find out who touched Him, and so, let’s touch Him.
Jan 28, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Monday of week 4 in Ordinary Time
Gospel – Mark 5:1-20
Jesus is saving this man in the country of Gerasenes from an unclean spirit. This episode is a great mediation for understanding what happen when we are under the possession of unclean spirit, when our mind and heart is not filled the Holy Spirit. This man lived among the tombs – always negative behaviour; no one could secure him – not listen to anyone and does whatever he wants; he broke the chains and fetters – breaking always the rules and norms; he would howl and gash himself with stones – lack of self-esteem and subsequent self-torture. These are signs of the presence of the unclean spirit in that man and these are signs of the absence of the Holy Spirit in us. In this episode we can also see what happens to a person who is filled with unclean spirit. It will happen the same thing what happened to the pigs – rushed down the cliff into the lake. In other words, self-destruction. The unclean spirit or selfishness brings destruction. Let’s reflect: Recognize the absence of the Holy Spirit in our life and welcome Jesus into our life.
