Sep 7, 2021 | FORUM
We say the Lord’s Prayer several times every day. Probably we have considered its content many times by listening, reading or meditating on what the Lord Jesus left us in it and to what he invites his disciples to. For some time, however, I have been paying special attention to the fifth request, which is conditional and touches the essence of Christianity: And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
The theme of forgiveness is closely related to mercy. Forgiveness is one way we show mercy. One of the more demanding ways I would say … I trust everyone has experienced his healing power in their lives. Forgiveness received from loved ones teaches us to show mercy to other people, and also to ourselves, from childhood. People who are unable to show mercy to themselves usually have difficulties showing mercy to others, which makes it difficult to build social and community relations. Forgiveness serves our human and Christian development. He conforms us to Christ who invited his disciples to love their enemies (cf. Mt 5: 43-48). Jesus himself gave an example when he died on the cross for us, while we were still sinners (Rom 5: 8) and prayed in agony. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Lk 23: 34a). Most often we experience forgiving love from God in the sacrament of penance and reconciliation. A well-lived confession allows us to mend our relationships with those who have been at fault towards us or who have suffered because of us … Forgiveness requires rising above personal resentment, regret or such a natural but very primal desire to retaliate, which in fact does not help but drives the mechanism of evil. In the parable of the unmerciful debtor, the Lord Jesus invites us to forgive from the heart (cf. Mt 18:35), and not only superficially. In the Bible, the heart is the seat of feelings and will, it is the center of humanity. Forgiveness requires faith and trust in God, although it does not mean giving up your sense of justice and the expectation of restitution. During the trial before Annas, Jesus, struck by the servant of the high priest, asks him the question: If I said wrong, prove what was wrong. If that’s right, why do you beat me? (Jn 18:23). With these words, Jesus touches the conscience, stimulates the reflection of a man seeking human favors. It teaches us to care for the souls of those who have hurt us. This concern involves prayer, if possible, conversation, and, if necessary, help from the culprit.
Personally, I have found many times that forgiveness builds community. It belongs to its fundamental principles. When shown in a natural way, it helps to overcome difficulties that are not lacking in everyday life. Forgiveness is always possible. It leads to inner freedom even in difficult circumstances and helps to a fuller union with Jesus. Forgiveness received from the community brings us closer to each other and opens us to a variety of thinking, reacting and perceiving reality. Finally, forgiveness is combined with the gentleness which Pope Francis, in his Apostolic Exhortation on the call to holiness in the modern world Gaudete et exultate, describes as the style of Jesus (cf. no. 71).
S.M. Michaela Musiał
Aug 15, 2021 | FORUM, NEWS
I would like to share a story that happened while I was working in a hospital in Naples. I will start my story with how it happened that I became a nurse, went to Italy and at a miracle in the hospital ward.
I entered the Congregation when I was 20 years old. I started my candidacy. I remember very well one of the first words that Mother superior (Mother General representative in Poland) said to me then: “The candidate will be a nurse”. These words were very memorable to me, but with time I had to forget about them…. but Mother superior did not forget them.
I started my novitiate. We had various lectures during this time. There was also one sister from Katowice (I don’t remember her name) who taught us how to give injections and how to perform basic nursing activities for the sick.
When I was in the second year of the novitiate, we were informed that the sisters were to be transported to Otorów near Szamotuły, to a labor camp. I remember when Mother superior made the decision to strip the novices from their sisters in order to protect them from deportation. They were to take their personal belongings to their family homes. I was also supposed to pack my things, take them to my family home and come in secular clothes to the sisters’ community in Nysa. And so I did.
The sisters in Nysa welcomed me kindly. Soon they put me in the habit that was left by my deceased sister. Although it did not fit me and was too big for me, I was happy to be able to wear it again. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy it for long, because soon at the gate, someone dropped us a letter informing us that they wanted to take us to a labor camp, so they ordered me to undress again. It must have happened about three times when they dressed and undressed me like this, but I knew it was the only way to save me from deportation.
Herezwit’s sister was in Nysa, she ran a tailoring course for girls. Since I was already studying sewing as a teenager in business school, I started helping her learn sewing. After a year in Nysa, Mother superior “remembered” what she told me when I was a candidate and that is why she moved me to Jaszkotle. There, in addition to working in the house, I visted the sick in the villages and gave them injections. I went from Jaszkotle to a nursing school in Warsaw for two years. After graduating from school, she returned to Jaszkotle. Then I was transferred to Ścinawa, where the sisters worked in the Health Center: in the delivery room, in the vaccination center and in the surgery room. There I was supposed to be a superior. I remember how I felt sorry to leave Jaszkotle and when we got off the train with my sister Helena, who was taking me away, she noticed that I was sad because I was going into the unknown, I did not know who I was going to work with. She started showing me the advantages of this place, saying: “look how nice it is here, the stream flows here, the birds sing so nicely” and then I replied: “but it’s so strange”. But God was with me. I started working at a vaccination point and traveled to the villages to visit sick people. There were 15 villages to handle. I worked there for 10 years.
- To this day, I can hear the ringing of the telephone and a voice in the receiver that says: “Sister Vincentia, you will go to Italy. Get ready and quickly because the director of the hospital wants one sister to come to work in the hospital ward ”. I must admit that I felt sorry to leave because I got close to my sisters and people. After all, I didn’t know Italian and I was going again into the unknown.
As I have already mentioned, I came to Naples without knowing the Italian language. I started working in a hospital, people welcomed me very kindly. They supported me not to worry about the language, but to learn patiently, at least two words a day and in some time I will be speaking perfectly. And so I did. Despite the unfamiliarity with the language, I started working in the ward right away and only thanks to God’s care and help I did not make any mistakes.
People from the hospital liked to work with us – sisters, they made us feel it more than once. They trusted us. They confided in us with their various family and marriage problems, and we gave all these matters to God in prayer.
During my work in the hospital, a miracle happened that I would like to tell you about.
One day, in the ward where I was working, there was a woman who gave birth to a baby boy. After giving birth, her health began to deteriorate. She had the so-called eclampsia (this is eclampsia that occurs as seizures or loss of consciousness in pregnant or postnatal women). This condition lasted for two weeks, she felt into a coma, she did not react to anything. Doctors did not give her a chance to survive. I felt very sorry for this woman, she had just given birth to her first child and was going to die soon. Every day she was visited by a midwife who performed nursing activities for her. One day I met her in this lady’s room. I asked “will this patient really die?” She replied that “there is no salvation for her anymore.” Then I told the midwife that I had the oil from the wonderful place of Saint Anastasia with the painting of Our Lady dell’Arco, and I wanted to anoint the patient with it. (Let me just mention that the Dominican fathers who look after this sanctuary on the day of the indulgence always bless the oils that people can take away.)
I also proposed a joint prayer for: either God give her a peaceful death or restore her health. She responded to it willingly. I remember how I knelt on one side of the bed and the midwife on the other. And just as it is done in the anointing of the sick, I made this sick woman a cross with this oil on the forehead, on the hands and on the feet.
Our prayer did not last long. After a while the lady opened her eyes and sat down on the bed. We cried out. After a few days, she returned home with the baby.
Our Lady saved her!
It was one of the most moving events that I experienced in my 21 years working in a Neapolitan hospital. I remember that time very well and with great sentiment.
S.M. Vincencia Wróbel
* * *
The beginning of the cult of the Virgin Mary with the title of Madonna dell’Arco is associated with the episode that took place on April 6, 1450, on Easter Monday, in Saint Anastasia (today in the Province of Naples).
At the edge of the field, there was a chapel with a painting (hence the names Madonna dell’Arco and Pomigliano d’Arco) under the arch of the aqueduct, with a painting of our Lady with Baby Jesus.
During a village festival, young men played “palla a maglio” (ball with a hammer) on the field. The game consisted in hitting a wooden ball with a hammer, the one who made the ball fly further won. One of them missed and lost the game, so the ball hit the linden tree, whose branches partially obscured the wall covered with the image of our Lady with the Baby Jesus. The loser in a fit of anger, picked up the ball and, cursing, threw it violently at the sacred image, hitting it on the left cheek, which began to bleed as if it were a living body. The news of the miracle quickly spread across the country, reaching Count Sarno, a local nobleman, the Great Executioner of the Kingdom of Naples. He released the young man, but after observing the miracle and carrying out a shortened trial, he sentenced him to be hanged, on the same July that sheltered the image of the Mother of God. After twenty-four hours, the tree was withered
These miraculous events sparked the cult of the Madonna dell’Arco, which immediately spread throughout southern Italy. Crowds of believers poured into the miracle site, so it was necessary to build a small church out of the offers received to protect the holy image from the elements.
http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/91177
https://www.fanpage.it/napoli/la-storia-della-madonna-dellarco-e-dei-suoi-miracoli/
Aug 14, 2021 | FORUM, NEWS
The Three Fountain (Three Springs) on Via Laurentina in Rome is a well-known place, because it is the place where the martyrdom of St. Paul took place. Legend has it that when St. Paul was beheaded as a result of the persecution of Nero, his head bounced off the ground three times before stopping. Suddenly, three springs gushed out of the ground, that is why this place is called “Le Tre Fontane”, or “Three fountains”.
Near the place of the martyrdom of St. Paul, the Mother of God appeared, but let’s start at the beginning;
In 1913, in a stable on the outskirts of Rome, Bruno Cornacchiola was born. He was not baptized until his father returned from prison. He grew up and grew up in the godless environment of Roman slums, where almost all criminals and prostitutes lived. There were constant arguments, curses and beatings in Bruno’s house. The older ones ran away from home at night. One day, when Bruno was wandering around the building, a monk became interested in him and took him to a convent. He was fed and washed there. The sisters started teaching him the catechism. After 40 days of preparation, sixteen-year-old Bruno received his First Communion and the sacrament of confirmation. At the age of 20, he was drafted into the army. After leaving the military service, Bruno Cornacchiola married a girl he had known from childhood and only thanks to her insistence, he agreed to a church wedding. Then Bruno joined the Communist Party. He went with the Italian army to Spain for the civil war, where he began to spy for the communists. In Zaragoza he met a German soldier who had impressed him a lot, he belonged to a Protestant sect and breathed hatred towards the Pope and the Catholic Church. Since then, hatred of the Catholic Church in Bruno grew to such an extent that he bought himself a dagger and wrote “Death to the Pope” on it. After the end of the war, he returned to Rome and began to work as a tram conductor. It was during this time that he made contact with Seventh-day Adventists. Bruno was very committed and zealous in fighting the Catholic Church, the cult of the Mother of God and the Pope, and did his best to convince as many people as possible and make them adhere to the Adventist sect. This prompted him to deliver a speech in Piazza della Croce Rossa, in which he was supposed to ridicule the worship of the Eucharist, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was a great honor and an opportunity for him to become a pastor.
For this reason, on Saturday, April 12, 1947, were going to Ostia with his children; 10-year-old Isola, 7-year-old Carlo and 4-year-old Gianfranco. They missed the train, so he decided to go to ‘’Via Laurentina alle Tre Fontane’’ the three fountains’’ to prepare his speech in peace.
It was a beautiful sunny day, the children started to play in the eucalyptus forest and Bruno was preparing his speech. There was a grotto near where they were. Bruno checked from time to time where the children are and what they are doing. One moment he did not hear the answer of the youngest son, he started looking for him very concerned. He reached a nearby grotto and found a child kneeling with his hands folded in prayer. Bruno called the other children. Upon arriving, they also kneeled in front of the “beautiful lady” who was in the grotto and whom only Bruno could not see. Bruno was terrified, his children were pale and motionless, he did not know what to do, he worried about his children, in his helplessness for the first time in a long time he asked for the Lord’s help with all his heart. At this point, the darkness of the grotto brightened and he also saw a “beautiful lady”.
She was about five to seven feet, had a white dress with a pink band around her hips, dark brown hair and a green cloak around her head and hips, and hold a Bible in her hands. The Lady introduced herself as the “Virgin of Revelation.” She said: “I am the Virgin of Revelation, and Revelation is the words of God that speak of Me as well. You are persecuting me, but it is high time you stop this. Come back to the holy communion of the Catholic Church. ”The first Fridays of the Month offered to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which you celebrated, encouraged by your concerned, faithful spouse, before you finally embarked on the path of error, saved you. She talked to Bruno for an hour and a quarter: she explained to him the meaning of prayer, invited him to confession and delivered a message to the Pope.
Finally, she smiled, bowed and gradually disappeared, leaving only a beautiful scent in the grotto. Before she left, the Virgin of Revelation left him a sign, dispelling his doubts, confirming the credibility of God’s message, and rejecting Satan’s actions. The sign was about the announcement of Bruno Cornacchiola’s future meeting with the priest, who would verify the truth of the apparition. After returning home, Bruno told his wife what happened and asked her forgiveness for his earlier behavior. Bruno Cornacchiola had subsequent apparitions on May 6, 23, and 30.
On October 5, 1947, on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, the largest rosary procession in the history of Rome took place. It began in St. Peter and walked through the streets of the city to the grotto of Tre Fontane. Three pairs of white horses pulled a cart with a large statue of the Virgin of the Revelation blessed by Pope Pius XII. At that time, the Holy Father consented to the public worship in Tre Fontane and entrusted the Conventual Franciscans with pastoral care over pilgrims coming to the place of the apparitions. This place became a destination for pilgrimages, where many healings and conversions took place.
On April 12, 1980, the 33rd anniversary of the apparitions, 3,000 people witnessed the solar miracle. This phenomenon repeated itself two years later ..
Bruno Cornacchiola also met with successive popes: on July 8, 1959, he was received in private audience by Pope John XXIII, and on October 17, 1973, he met with Paul VI. He was also at a private audience with John Paul II.
Thanks to the decision of Pope John Paul II, on March 17, 1994, Cardinal Camillo Ruini issued a decree ordering the construction of a church on the site of the apparitions, and on April 2, 1997, St. John Paul II gave this church the title “Holy Mary of the Third Millennium in Tre Fontane”.
Sr. Weronika Wojciechowska
Aug 6, 2021 | FORUM
In this 2nd article on Sr. Joan Chittister’s book, I would like to invite you to reflect on religious vows, specifically the vow of chastity that Sr. Joan made in chapter 11 of her book in the context of sexuality, perfection and devotion describes.
Sr. Joan has given this chapter the title “Call for Love”. And again I have to say that these pages, like the entire book, are a kind of explosive, a challenge and provocation that force you to rethink principles that have been lived and believed up to now. But those who face this challenge can experience a vastness and liberation, especially in this vow, which is often seen as a restriction, which enriches life and makes it worth living.
Sr. Joan describes, among other things, how chastity was lived and understood over centuries, especially in women’s communities: “Religious life became an exercise of disembodiment, a spirituality of genderlessness, distance, security and fear … In such a climate the encounter between people was at the bottom of the ladder of spiritual development. Friendships in the communities were limited to fleeting contacts … Life was there to be denied … Work replaced human relationships. Community life became a life in which strangers learned to be lonely with one another. ”
The author describes the situation as it was common in most women’s communities until a few decades ago. And even if we have been trying, at least since the 2nd Vatican Council, to open ourselves to a new and contemporary order theology and to revise our constitutions and rules of life accordingly, this centuries-old thinking is still written down in our heads in many ways. And a traditional thought pattern to change a mentality is one of the most difficult and tedious tasks and challenges.
But the author also shows what vision she has for life as a religious and how it can succeed in integrating chastity, sexuality, love and the ability to love in religious life: “A chastity that makes love and friendship impossible, that distrusts privacy and refusing to allow personal feelings, misses the point of chastity. Chastity is not about not loving. It teaches us to love well, to love generously, to love energetically. ”And elsewhere:“ The ability to show feelings is a gift. If she is circumcised … she will corner people. If it is released, the soul gets wings…. Without love, life dies away and leaves us empty-handed. ”
In this context, I remembered a meeting with fellow sisters on the subject of chastity and sexuality in religious life. We talked about the fact that our body, even our sexuality, is a gift from God, nothing unclean and bad and that we, as women religious, must also become aware of these gifts. Even if we do not live out sexuality, we have to accept it and channel its energy, tenderness and the ability to love and give it to all the people we serve. In this way, it helps and enables us to love ourselves and others without tying us to one person. For many sisters (all of them at an advanced age) this was a revelation and liberation. One sister said: We should have been told that years ago.
Sr. Joan put this in a nutshell: “Love without sexual practice, wonderful because of its tireless attention, teaches us the beauty of the loving soul and the fulfillment that accompanies the overwriting of the self, the I-am, for the sake of others . To teach chastity without love means as much as teaching spiritual exercises without God. ”
I want to end my remarks with the opening quotation of Chapter 11 “Call for Love”. In my opinion, this quote from Henry Ward Beecher sums up everything the author has written on the subject: “I did not know how to worship and worship God until I knew how to love.”
I hope I have made at least some of you want to read Sr. Joan’s book not just in part, but in full. It’s worth it, even if it makes us uneasy at first. But it leads further, broadens our horizons and gives us an idea of the beauty of religious life, which we often overlook or cannot see in our everyday life because its beauty is encrusted and hidden under the ashes. May the book help us to rekindle the embers, indeed the fire, in us!
Sr. Petra Ladig
Jul 27, 2021 | FORUM, NEWS
We live in times of enormous human possibilities. Even 50 years ago, the current lifestyle of people was unattainable for those times, even in the wildest dreams. Today, thanks to technical inventions and the ever-developing globalization in many areas of our lives, one has the impression that the world is at our fingertips, open to every human being, and what we will do with our lives depends only on our decision. In such a situation, choosing a simple, poor life in a monastery may seem completely absurd to contemporaries. For many people, religious life is losing its value today, becoming a kind of “religious folklore” or a medieval relic. Other roles of consecrated persons are perceived mainly in terms of social activity, which at present, with well-developed social institutions, does not play such importance as before. So, you get the impression that the time of religious orders is slowly coming to an end. In such thinking, the fact of the decreasing number of vocations to consecrated life in Europe can also confirm.
However, are we really dealing with a crisis of religious life today, which has become obsolete in the modern world, or is there a world around us in which basic and natural values, such as faith in God, love as a gift of self, truth, goodness and beauty? began to be a misunderstanding?
There is no doubt that in today’s world, spirituality has become one of the most stunted areas of life for many Christians. On the one hand, the weakening of faith, and on the other hand, the more and more felt, though perhaps not realized, desire of God the Creator – this is the drama of contemporary man. The witness of consecrated life has never been so necessary in history as it is today. It does not lose its sense, but it is much more difficult, because it is to fulfill its role in a culture that has chosen individualism as its hallmark. Consecrated life as a path of service, love, self-giving for the sake of often neglected, difficult and needy people stands in complete opposition to today’s mentality.
The essence of the vocation to consecrated life is not the activity, but the identity of the consecrated person. A vocation to religious life is a vocation to a unique bond with Christ that cannot become obsolete. Religious community is to show the passion of life for God – this is its task in the world. Of course, this does not mean that religious life would be the best path for all people. However, this life, which some Christians choose by God’s grace, helps others not to get lost in the variety of ways and offers that exist in the modern world.
Consecrated life should convince you that it is God who gives the experience of happiness that the world seeks and cannot find anywhere else. Money, power, or feelings will not give it unless it is integrated into the experience of faith. It is God who is the Lord of everything, it is up to us to fulfill the task entrusted to us.
S.M. Sybilla Kołtan
Jul 14, 2021 | FORUM, NEWS
Since this year is proclaimed by Pope Francis “the Year of Saint Joseph”, I would like to share with you my friendship with this saint.
Devotion to St. I have always had Joseph, before I entered our Congregation, I knew the litany to St. Joseph by heart. I always tried to entrust many things through his intercession, especially … financial matters … He never refused to help me.
I remember two specific situations in my life.
While I was in Bardo Śląski, the whole community of sisters knew that I had a special devotion to St. Joseph. I was the supervisor then. The house was very large and constantly something broke or needed renovation. Unfortunately, there was not enough money for it. I prayed to my Friend, St. Joseph to help us with these financial matters.
One morning, when I was going down to the chapel, I saw in the corridor in front of the entrance to the chapel that there was a statue of St. Joseph with an envelope in his hand. (I will just add that this figure has never stood there before). I well remember the words I said aloud then: “Oh, its and you, how did you get here?” After a while as I spoke these words, from down the hall, I heard the laughter of the sisters who hid around the corner. It was the youngest sisters in the community who put this figure. As I mentioned, Joseph had an envelope in his hand and, as it turned out, there was money in it. I admit that I was very happy because we were able to renovate such a large room, which we could allocate for a retreat for pilgrims coming to our house and for joint sister meetings.
I never found out where the money came from and who gave it to us (the sisters never told where it came from). However, I believed that it was St. Joseph took care of it.
The next situation happened when we needed money to renovate the kitchen.
Trusting in the help of St. Joseph, I entrusted the whole matter to him and finding money for its renovation.
One day there was a retreat for pilgrims in our house. Then I helped the Sisters in the kitchen and I remember that we were talking about the renovation. At one point the priest who was preaching a retreat with us (now he is a bishop) entered the kitchen. He greeted us, approached me and the kitchen and hands me an envelope, saying: “This is from St. Joseph for my sister ”. The envelope contained enough money to renovate the kitchen.
I remember these two situations in a special way, although there were still many of them.
I love St. Joseph very much. I also call him diminutively “Józefek, help”, I am asking him to come up with “something” and save it. And he has always helped and put wonderful people on my way of life. And it helps to this day. He is reliable in helping. In some matters he works right away, in some you have to wait longer for His intercession, but He always helps and intercedes, you just have to really trust Him, believe and ask for His help.
S.M. Borgia Drobina
