of the First Week in Ordinary Time.

Ordinary time is never “ordinary”. Every day is a chance to be called: “Come after me” (Mark 1:17). We are invited to follow Him. And we have no idea where this adventure will take us. I was 18 years old when He said these words to me. And I imagined that I would be a parish priest in a small town in my small Diocese in Poland. 28 years later I am in Mexico, happy after presenting Program 2 to six couples, and surprised to see so many miracles. And at the beginning there was only a simple answer to His invitation.

The same happens to every marriage invited to be parents. The answer has changed your life totally. A wife has become a mother, A husband has become a father and your child has received parents. And with this new vocation you have been appointed to a new identity and new responsibility – to be an example of God’s love. To represent Him and His love. The first person to love is your wife/your husband. After him/her come your children. The better you are as a husband/wife, the better you are as a father/mother.

The couples who have attended Program 2: “WE+FAMILY” found the time to invest in their vocation. They were invited by God to become parents and they know how important their vocation is. It was such a special grace to look at their effort and hard work, and to see how happy they were taking part in this Program.

In every life God comes with an invitation to follow Him. And to love like He does. It is not our idea, it is His invitation. This invitation comes with grace.

“It was not you who chose me, says the Lord, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruits, fruit that will last” ( Cf Jn 15:16).

“He must increase; I must decrease.” (J 3:30) 

Ever since the beginning of my priesthood it has been my main concern: “He must increase, I must decrease”. Especially when you are so young and think that future of the world depends on you.

During the Holy Mass you are using His words for consecration, and because of the Sacrament of Priesthood your words make this miracle. How I should say these words, to represent only Him, to decrease, to disappear, to increase Him, not myself? The same with all the other sacraments. And in a very special way during the Sacrament of Reconciliation. How to show to people Him only, all His love and forgiveness, and compassion?

What a huge responsibility.

It helped me to remember Jesus’s solemn entry into Jerusalem, when He rode on a donkey. “Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others greenery which they had cut in the fields” (Mk 11:8). The donkey could think it was for him.

“We know that we belong to God… in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Children, be on your guard against idols.” (1 John 5:21)

“Then, opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.” (Mt 2:11)

They offered Him gifts. The best they had: gold – for the King, frankincense – for God, myrrh – for His death on the cross. But gold could also symbolize our love, frankincense – our longing, and myrrh – our suffering. 

When I go to visit Him, how often do I bring Him only leftovers. Remains of my time, busy schedule, last minutes of my day. How often did I fall asleep during the liturgy of hours, during my daily meditation. Not because of malice, only because I was so busy in the service of my Lord.

Today’s feast reminds me how important it is to put Him in the first place of my day – before I start to serve Him. Service is the measure of my love, and love first needs to meet its object.

The Magi first came to visit Him. The gifts were only a consequence of the visit. Without the visit – there are no gifts.

“…they returned to … their own town…” (Lk 2:39)

My own town, my home. These words are very special for people who travel a lot. Or are on a one-year trip abroad. Here, in Mexico, I have slept in twelve places. And it is not the end.

I like the idea that the Holy Family called one place in the world – “their own town”.

It sounds very similar to our families from Wrocław, Poland, always proud of their City – “in our city…”

And I think that the Holy Family is very close to anybody who is alone. Because they know how important it is to have one’s own place, own town. They spent some time as refugees, they were emigrants, so they understand perfectly anybody who is alone, not in his or her “own town”, who is coming back to a rented room or apartment, where no one is waiting for them.

From the moment when the Holy Family found “their own town”, no one is alone, no one is without a family, no one is forgotten. Because … “the Son of man came to save that which was lost.” (Mt 18:11). And the best idea with the “lost” is to bring them back to the family, remind them – you belong, you are a part of us. This is that kind of message, which should be repeated all over again to our kids:  I love you, you are our beloved daughter/son, I am so proud of you, etc…

When we have more people with “their own town”, there will be less broken hearts, wounded by people who used us as a hotel for one night.

If you will feel homeless at your place, where nobody takes care of you, immediately visit the Holy Family home, feel the atmosphere where you are loved and always welcomed, and go back to your home knowing how to share your love with the others. Simply “return to your own town”.

With a special prayer for all of you who are in need.

Fr. Jay

“Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed” (J 20:8).

The youngest, the most beloved, and so humble and respectful. He “had arrived at the tomb first”, but it was Peter who went into the tomb first. Love for Christ is love for the Church. Even if John was the most beloved, Peter was chosen to be the First Pope. Where true love is, there is also order.

It reminds me of an old, but not good, saying about the roles in the family: the husband is the head and the wife is the … neck, which turns the head in whichever direction she wants. This is not the theology of marriage and family. The true answer is: the husband is the head, but his wife is the heart. It is not an opposition – both are complementary. The head without a heart is not a good idea, but also the other way round. And this is my Church. All roles, all charismas, everybody needed. In the service to one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church.

PS. Personally I like this fragment also for another reason. This is a very important proof that running is a part of being an apostle. “They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived… first” (J 20:4).

So, keep running. We need fast apostles. And remember, first doesn’t mean more important. Running is not only about the place you win at the end; more important is always love.

P.S. 2. Keep me in your prayer: 8th of February. My fifth marathon. 🙂

“He guides the humble to justice, he teaches the humble his way” (Ps 25)

The simple difference between believer and pagan lies in prayer. Not in prayer generally but in the way how they pray. The pagan prays to change God’s will, the believer prays to change his own heart to follow God’s will. The pagan can even “pay” for this change in God’s will by sacrifices, litanies, candles; the believer can put his life on the line to be with God.

We are listening today to His words and pray: “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior” (Ps 25). We know that He is full of compassion and kindness, “good and upright is the Lord” (Ps 25), so we choose to listen to Him and follow His will, because He knows where our Home is. And He said “I am the way, the truth and the life”.
The chief priest and the elders (Mt 21, 23) had their own idea of God, heaven and future. They prayed a lot. But instead of accepting the salvation they were trying to destroy the authority of Jesus. They tried to be smart rather then simple. Their attempt had a very miserable effect.

Our prayer for today is: “Show us, Lord, your love, and grant us your salvation”. (Alleluia)

“He guides the humble to justice, he teaches the humble his way” (Ps 25)

PS. I received yesterday so much of wonderfull evidence of your memory of my 28th anniversery of priesthood. Thank U so much.

“Wisdom is vindicated by her works” Mt 11:19

It is so difficult after yesterday Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe just to come back to normal, Advent time. Especially for me. I am from the country that loves Our Lady so much. Like You, Mexicans. Celebrating Her Feast with You, in our Parish of Immaculate  Conception and in Tepeyac, was so important and emotional.

Fortunately in today’s readings I’ve found  a reason not to leave the atmosphere of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, but to stay in it a little bit longer.

“Wisdom in vindicated by her works”. Our liturgical tradition very often uses readings from Ecclesiastes (Eclesiastico) to present the role of Our Lady in THE history of Redemption. She is God’s Wisdom. So, what kind of works did She show us yesterday? An outstanding devotion to the Holy Mass. We celebrated yesterday so many Masses to glorify the Holy Trinity. All Her honor and glory is to bring us closer to Her beloved Son, to meet Him and receive all His mercy, forgiveness and  love from Him.

Wisdom is not knowledge, education level or scientific titles. Wisdom is to offer all our love, trust and adoration to Him, “your Redeemer, the Holy One” (Is 48, 17). He will “teach you what is your good, and lead you on the way you should go”(Is, 48, 17). And – the most important – Our “name is never cut off or blotted out from” (Is 48, 19) His presence.

This is a special gift of Our Lady of Guadalupe. She always brings us closer to Him.

Wisdom in vindicated by her works.

Fr Jay

This is above all the panel of the leaders of the conference of bishops of the US, Canada, Latin America and Brazil. Also the bishop from the Philippines and Caribbean was included but because of the tragedy he didn’t come, which is understandable.

I will need some more time to put these matters in order but I can see already how important his meetings was and even though it concerned America, many things can be related to our situation.

What was did the speakers stress most? That evangelisation is not only our thing but it is also the great concern of God for all the children to come back to Him.

There is no evangelisation that does not stream from an individual encounter with God so at the first place there is prayer and the personal relationship with Jesus. The church and all of us are missionaries – this is not a post or a title but the identity of each of us. When we encounter the living Jesus, we want to share this experience with everyone.

The Holy Spirit, promised to us, will lead in us in every situation. This requires openness and internal freedom. We must also constantly reflect on things and react to changing reality. The social structure of many countries is changing from rural to urban societies. What was good before is no longer sufficient. For example, in Toronto 50% inhabitants were not born in Canada. This shows that we are in a very happy situation, although in our country we can also see the trend from rural to urban.

A parish is a community of communities, we repeat it often and we must come back to it again and again. Each of us needs a smaller community that gives a sense of closeness and understanding. But our mission is not to serve our community or even our parish but… the world. We need to conquer the world for Jesus. We discussed the need to change our mentality to become missionaries. We need to change our parishes in mission territories. For example: bring every year two new married couples to our meetings – what would happen in 5 years’ time?

Every day we started and ended with a prayer. I was happy that there was ample time for prayer, so it was not theoretical speaking of the need to pray but putting in practice what was said.

Remembering you all

Padre J.

It is an extraordinary place. Every time I come here I am deeply impressed. It is so much alike our Jasna Gora but is also very unique. Maybe this is because it is so diversified and full of Indians coming from various tribes and wearing their tribal clothes.

There are 12 million pilgrims coming here every year, three times as many as to Czestochowa. People come here all the time. When a baby is born, it is brought here to be presented to Our Lady and flowers are brought to her in big heaps.

Candles and water is brought to be consecrated and people come to dance before Our Lady.

Today I didn’t take lunch (partly because I was not entitled to a common lunch and I didn’t want to lose… time on individual lunch) and I went to visit Our Lady. I didn’t quite succeed because here when a priest is around, people approach him to ask for a blessing for a child or wife or mother. When I sat in a bench, one family came for a blessing and then a whole queue was formed, so I had to leave – not because I didn’t want to bless but because The Holy Mass began.

But I wish all priests could have such experiences – a queue of people asking to be prayed for and blessed. I had do refuse when asked for confession in Spanish. It is so sad but I need some more time, this is what I say to myself but so far I have had too little time to do it and there are people around who speak English. I keep promising myself that this will change and will probably change soon because Bishop Carlos is planning for me a new place to stay in a parish where no-one speaks English.

And coming back to the Congress: it’s been very interesting and today we’re having a presentation of all group work. I keep learning new things. The most interesting thing today was a comment of one of the participants: Jesus said: GO! and we say COME! Perhaps we should go back to the roots? maybe that’s why Pope Francis says we must be on the way and if we’re not on the way, it is not good.

In the evening we had a beautiful celebration for Our Lady when a rose offered by Pope Francis was presented. Just like Our Lady asked Juan Diego to offer her roses, She is offered roses today. It’s difficult to hold back tears.

Greetings on the way to the last day of the Congress

Padre J.

It has passed. Thanks to the prayer of so many of you, thanks to your support I have thrown myself in at the deep end and for the first time in my life – not taking into account Holy Masses – I have spoken a conference in English, without a paper, without a crib, using only a presentation prepared by the Boss of our Editorial Team  –  I don’t know how to show it to you, as it’s worth seeing.

I was only paralysed by the awareness that my speech was planed to last an hour. I prevented the organisers that it would be great if I managed to talk for 30, possibly 40 minutes. They told me it was all right – there would be a break, someone could speak about their experiences with the Creighton model, then a NaPro doctor, something about the Programme planned for mid-January and somehow we would make it until noon.

Everything started later. Instead of the planned 10 am we moved on at 10.20. Eloisa said a few words about the speaker, welcomed the viewers in other countries –  the conference was transmitted live – and I took the floor. When I finished speaking it was 12 am. I have never noticed that one hour and a half have passed! When I lacked words, the participants helped me, when I did not know the right word, I used a description; when I made a mistake and noticed it, I corrected myself.. I just shared what I had in my heart. Strangely enough, no-one protested that it took so long, no-one pointed out my mistakes.

I’m writing about all this because we know each other and that I know I can share with you this joy that I have overcome myself and have done something that seemed to me impossible not a long time ago. I wish you the same: the courage to overcame obstacles and the courage to witness. Believe me, when someone who for the whole adult life is a speaker and knows the ropes, feels that they have limitations in a foreign language, it may take the courage away.

Thanks to your support it was possible. Thank you for your being here and your support.

With thankful prayer

Padre J.

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