Archiwum Spojrzenia Serca

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a meeting with my Sisters from Europe in Budapest. At the prayer on the occasion of the World Day of Peace, we were to present graphically what in the last year in our opinion contributed to building peace. I drew a smile, because I am convinced that it is just ordinary human kindness that allows us to overcome our difficulties on a daily basis, which otherwise become unbearable. I am convinced that the way in which we treat a person is more important than whether we can directly respond to his needs. Ultimately, this will be the greatest need of everyone – to be treated with respect and dignity.

A few days ago I came across a video showing how treating children at school affects their well-being and development. Having the experience of working in middle school, I know how much it costs to not get upset in the seventh hour, when the students are doing everything apart from paying attention. At the same time, I am aware that the teacher’s reactions might be crutial in building the attitude a young person will have towards the world and what kind of a society we will all create.

Now I am on my way to Poznań after visiting our community in Tarnów. Many of our Sisters are involved in the kindergarten and school run by the Society, but many more are lay people. It gave me real joy to watched the care and kindness with which everyone approaches the children. This very clearly translates into the satisfaction of them and their parents. Certainly, after graduating from school, it will not be most important if little John was able to solve the equation well and write an essay, but the fact that he was heard and understood.

Sometimes I have the impression that we are so absorbed by the professionalism of our doings and the size of the tasks we undertake, that we lose joy and lightness. Then we no longer have the strength for the most important – kindness that changes the world.

https://www.facebook.com/steve.forsythe.35/videos/1139747856103902/

This Advent, although short, has already been exceptional. During these three weeks, a friend, who I knew during my studies in Warsaw, died of cancer; during mass with a great crowd of people, I remembered Fr. Jan Góra, a very famous Dominican on the second anniversary of his death; and above all, with my whole Society, I experienced the death of Mariola Vera, who has been struggling with leukaemia these recent months. The way she lived through her illness shows how united she was with Jesus, who was close to her up to the last days. On the Spanish website you will find a letter that she wrote to the her Province a few days before her death.

All these things reminded me of the symbolism often used while writing icons. In the Nativity scene, little Jesus is wrapped in the way in which the dead were formerly buried, or is even lying in something resembling a coffin or grave. This should show that Jesus was born to die, and he died so that we could have life. These two mysteries – life and death – meet and complement each other. It is a paradox that accompanies the entire Incarnation, because when the Almighty God becomes a defenceless child, we feel that it goes beyond our human understanding of reality.

These days, I remind myself that „memento mori” are not words that should fill us with fear of eternal hell, but which should put our lives in the right light. St. Ignatius, as one of the methods of making decisions, proposes to imagine yourself at the moment of death and ask yourself if it would be the best choice from this perspective. Maybe it would be good to look at the coming days from the perspective of eternity. Will it still be important that there will be good food and clean curtains? Or maybe something else will emerge from our priorities then?

During the days of my studies, when many things absorbed me up to late at night, I always use to say,  that I will finally get some sleep after I die. Although in the meantime I have significantly changed my lifestyle, the motto is still valid, because the number of hours sleeping seems to have little effect on whether I will be yawning during the day. This also effects my prayer.

Apparently (though I can not find it) Saint Teresa of Lisieux once said that if the surgeon wants to perform an operation on the heart, he must first put the patient to sleep. Maybe I should not be surprised that after entering the chapel, I sleep best – maybe my heart requires constant operations!

For several years, with varying intensity, I have been trying to practice prayer in motion, taking Jesus for a walk. My legs, walking several kilometers, significantly reduce the risk of falling asleep and, in addition, make me stay fit. Of course, the noises of the surrounding world can effectively disrupt my encounter with God, but they can also become the basis for a prayer of mindfulness, which will bring my thoughts „here and now” without wandering to the past and future. A walk is also a perfect moment to say the rosary, entrust to God people passed on the street or to make a summary of the day in His presense. Fortunately, he did not shut Himself in the church or our homes and every place can become the Holy Land of encounter with the Almighty.

It happens often, that I leave my prayer disappointed that I slept again most of the time. But maybe I have it wrong? Maybe it’s just an invitation for a walk …