Yesterday’s journey began at 1.50 pm and finished at 4 a.m. and all went well thanks only to the assistance of friends from the Poznan group. First Zosia and Ryszard and then Mariusz, who took us by car to Łomianki so that I could be on time for my flight. There was not much time for sleep byt today the journey continues and perhaps I’ll be able to sleep.
This time I’m going for the meeting of FertilityCare Centers International – an organisation that coordinates all world activities related to NaProTechnology. Apart from the creator of this method, doctor T. Hilgers, there are there the representatives of all the continents and some more people who form together the Board of Directors. The meeting take place oonce in a year and is very intensive. And just afterwards there is the meeting of the American Association for FertilityCare Profesionals. Everything comes to an end on Sunday. And I come back immediately after that. The meeting this year seems to be particularly important bacause new centres appear that require particular attention. A lot will be happening and I will keep you informed about everything.
Now the flight to New York, then several hours’ waiting for the next flight to New Orleans (although this is the US, there is very European and French atmosphere there). I ask my Guardian Angel to take care of me and lead me there.
I remember you fondly
Father Jarosław
A retreat in a seaside tourist spot are very different from the silence of the House of the Holy Family in Wisełka.
For example because we haven’t got here our own chapel but we use the church in Trzęsacz. “Our” Holy Masses and Adorations are then attended by other people. People coming alone are quiet – they come to draw from the grace. But it happened also that a group of sumer campers went into the church to visit it. In one moment several dozen people approached the altar and obscured the monstrance with Jesus.
The group was not very much interested in the Holy Sacrament but in the altar, that happens to be very interesting, so they didn;t show much respect for Jesus hidden in the white Host.
I thought then that it is not so obvious at all that if you come to the sdoration, you will actually see the Lord because even if we devote our time for this meeting, other people can disturb. And not only other people, we may be also distracted by our own thoughts.
The group quickly left the church. Some people bowed to Jesus. And in theis moment I felt joy because they could have come in any different moment and yet they chose the time when Jesus was there.
And His blessing flowed upon them although they didn’t expect it.
Greetings from Trzęsacz,
Dorota
Countryside. I decide to take the children to the forest on bikes. Although Grandpa says it is dangerous like like the whole life, because a branch can fall down and kill you without a warning for example. We go.
Karol, the 7-year-old son of the neigbours, takes the lead, my children call after him in the dust of gravel road. I go at the end. Karol suddenly turns and disappears. When we reach him, he says he will lead us because he knows here everything. I oppose a bit as after the rain it night it is wet so it can turn out that the road will be impassable further ahead and we’ll have to go back.
At the folliwing, pictoreaque turn Karol stops again, waits for us and explains: “There will be a big pool but we’ll manage to go through the middle. Then two big holes on either side. But we’ll manage. Going through the middle”.
We go, the pool is enormous, the mud unbelievable, but we go through. In the middle. And I am full of admiration. If I should ever be responsible for people in any kind of undertaking, I’d like to have Karol’s style. Not Grandpa’s with the vision of a catastrophe. And neither being left in the dust behind the leader. I’d like that devoting time to telll about things ahead and ways to conquer the obstacle. And the encourage “we’ll manage”.
Such leaders are so needed in life. I was to take the children for a bike, but the children have taken me.
M
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. ( Matthew 13: 46)
A lot of time passed since we met at the last programme, Programme 4 (ME + God). We meet in precisely the same group so we know each other a little, although each family comes from a different place.
When we shared our experiences, it was easy to see that each one of us, when coping with the difficulties of the previous year, felt relief when surrendering all of them to God and letting Him lead. Although this is costly and sometimes requires a lot of effort. But the awareness of the pearl of great value, the Kingdom of Heaven, is worth this effort.
Greetings from Trzęsacz, from Programme 5: WE + God 🙂
Dorota
We meet on this programme in the same group. This is this part of our programmes that we go through with the same people. For at least 3 years of working together. We are waiting for one more family that is coming any moment now. For the time being we meet just to be together, Like in a family. Or perhaps even more so because this is a family of choice. We look at the children, at the changes n our families and at new tasks that we took upon ourselves. We wonder where the Holy Spirit will lead us now.
Thank you for your support.
From Trzęsacz
Father Jarosław
Art historians sometimes say ‘ A ceiling in a cathedral can have many names but you have to know them to actually spot them’. We know the phenomenon of “pandemic of pregnancies” when the watching woman is pregnant herself or the fact that we suddenly see more cars of a particular make when we have bought one ourselves. On running paths the runners greet each other because they know how much effort it takes.
When I go to the seaside and back I meet so many married couples and families. One can see so much in their faces and in their way of walking and communicating. All too often these ways leave a lot to be desired. But in such moments one can ask for support for them, even in a shortest prayer. A kind comment can lighten up their faces. Even in this simple way we can spread the family-friendly world.
From the end of the following retreat
Father Jarosław always joyful 🙂
When I reflected on today’s Gospel, I thought about different crop that the same seed can bring. Isn’t it just like with our different duties, things to do, for example making a tea or a coffee for somebody. Can we talk here about different amounts of crop?
I thought that maybe if we co this tea right, the crop may be thirty times what was sown. If we do it willingly, it may be sixty times, and if joyfully – a hundred times. Right, willingly, joyfully. The same thing to do and we can express with it so much.
Today I am sending you my greetings as joyfully as I can:)
Father Jarosław
A 6-month-old baby does not pretend. He is joyful when it leaves the mum’s breat for a while and looks into her eyes. He is afraid when he wakes up during a walk and sees the trees. I look at these big, fearful eyes and I say, “I am here, son, daddy is here’. My wife says the same and then I notice I know these words. This is the name of God. Am I so helpless and afraid in His eyes, like a child, when He says ‘Do not be afraid, I am’?
Andrzej J.
A long time ago I heard a story that has stuck in my memory ever since.
War. Two brothers in arms. A company is forced to retreat under heavy fire. One of the two is severely wounded. After some time the latter becomes aware that the other one was left on the battlefield. He comes back, looks for him among the dead and finds him still alive. He takes on his back and carries him under fire.
When he reaches the camp, his friend is dead. His wounds were too severe and there was nothing to be done anyway. His colleagues ask him whether it was worth risking his life. He looks at them, astonished, that they ask such a question. He says, “When I found him, still conscious, he said “I knew you’d come”‘.
Coming back instead of pushing forward, taking a roundabout way, exposing oneself to a danger, giving one’s life for the others. Even among nonsense and turmoil. The final proof that you’re important to me. My husband, my wife, my daughter, my friend.
M
On the beach by brother tells me a joke:
– For seventeen years of our marriage you have been correcting me every time I say something.
– Eighteen.
On the trams I sometimes saw the inspiring slogan “Keep the distance”. Also in a marriage if we don’t keep the distance we might come to the erroneous conclusion that the spouse is only good for corercting. Weithout the distance that presupposes respect for differences we are not talent hunters we do not care for good and do not support the development. We are then rather a toxine that clips the wings. But there’s a chance even for the couple from that joke: eighteen years is still something else than fifty years. The parrot sentence “you’re wrong” can still be reprogrammed to “It’s very interesting, why do you think so?”.
M
