Recent Posts

Most Used Categories

Day: February 10, 2008

You are Here :
Poland - Polish - Polonia

In memory of the deported

Since the fall of communism in Poland, a new tradition has emerged. On February 10th of each year, people all over the country place a lit candle in their window to commemorate the first of four waves of deportations (in 1940) of approximately 2 million Poles. Polish soldiers, intellectuals, educators, doctors, professionals, clergy members, anyone who might raise their voice in opposition to Soviet communism was deported to Siberia. Some made it as far as Katyn, where they were slaughtered by the Russians. Others were worked to death in slave labor camps, in Archangel and in Siberia – the very same type of slave labor camps the German Nazis created a few years later.

Tonight light a candle in their memory, and in the memory of all those who suffered through these deportations and the resultant genocide committed by the Russians against the Polish people, as well as others from the Baltic countries, who were prepared to stand in the way of totalitarianism.

one candle

The Light of the Candle – by Hania Kaczanowska

A cold, frosty window against the darkness of the night
A lonely candle burns with a small flickering light
A small boy watches the flame with curious eyes
Babciu, you lit this candle, can you tell me why?

I lit this candle to remember someone I never knew
Somebody I just heard about when I was as little as you.
This is for my grandparents who never got the chance to see
Their homeland again and a new world with just me.

They lived in a time when their Polish freedoms were taken
On a cold February winter night, all humanity forsaken.
I only knew them from the many stories that were told
How they struggled to survive with hunger and bitter cold.

They never had the chance to get back what they knew
Their lives were destroyed and there was nothing they could do
Their last steps on earth were struggling to return
And I try to remember this as the memory candle burns.

I missed the warm hugs they might have given me
If they had just been given another chance to see
But in my heart I always felt their love stream thru
And from my heart I give Babunia and Dziadek to you.

They were warriors of faith and loved their land
Their fate was unnecessary and hard to understand
They were proud people, gentle and strong
Trapped in a world where so much went wrong.

When the 10th of February comes, remember this light
And the story I will tell you about them tonite.
May the candle burn bright and their memory survive
As their spirit touches us as if they were here and alive.

When I light the candle it is because I hope they will see
That their story will be passed on down to you, thru me
I can feel their smiles from the warmth of the flame
I hope the lit candle will always make you feel the same.

Fathers, PNCC

February 10 – St. Ambrose of Milan from Concerning Repentance

It is the will of the Lord that His disciples should possess great powers; it is His will that the same things which He did when on earth should be done in His Name by His servants. For He said: “You shall do greater things than these.” He gave them power to raise the dead. And whereas He could Himself have restored to Saul the use of his sight, He nevertheless sent him to His disciple Ananias, that by his blessing Saul’s eyes might be restored, the sight of which he had lost. Peter also He bade walk with Himself on the sea, and because he faltered He blamed him for lessening the grace given him by the weakness of his faith. He Who Himself was the light of the world granted to His disciples to be the light of the world through grace. And because He purposed to descend from heaven and to ascend thither again, He took up Elijah into heaven to restore him again to earth at the time which should please Him. And being baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire, He foreshadowed the Sacrament of Baptism at the hands of John.

And in fine He gave all gifts to His disciples, of whom He said: “In My Name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they shall drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall do well.” So, then, He gave them all things, but there is no power of man exercised in these things, in which the grace of the divine gift operates. — Book I, Chapter 8

Homilies,

First Sunday of Lent

A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

This psalm represents a powerful prayer. David is asking God to purify him, to give him a clean heart, a steadfast spirit. David is asking God to release him from sinfulness. David does not want to be apart from God’s presence. David does not want to loose the Holy Spirit’s presence in his life.

It is a wonderful prayer. It is the sort of prayer that speaks in part of David’s despair, the sort of despair we all feel when we are apart from God because of sin. More-so this prayer speaks of David’s love for God, his desire to return to God, not through his own power, but through God’s grace.

Brothers and sisters,

It is the first week of Lent, and a perfect opportunity for us to reflect on our attitude toward God, our love, and our sinfulness.

As we sit here, quietly, we should reflect on what is passing through our minds and hearts. Do we feel superior, intellectual, proud, smart, victorious, doubtful, worried, happy, guilty, righteous?

Of course, David knew all those feelings. Those types of thoughts are indicative of the distance we create between ourselves and God, between the ideal God calls us to, and the way we choose to live. Our sinfulness makes distance all the greater, distance from God, distance from each other.

As we sit here, in silence, let us reflect on just how far we are from God, just how much we need His hand. We need Him to reach out; to reach out, take us up, and hold us close. We need the gift of His grace so that we might return. We need to fall on our knees and beg Him for that grace – the grace that will renew us, creating a clean heart in us, renewing our spirit, making us steadfast in our opposition to sin.

My friends,

We are deep in sin. So deep we don’t even see it or realize it. We have made ourselves numb to the fact that we do things every day that hurt our brothers and sisters. We do things that hurt each other. From words to glances, from phone calls, visits, and E-mails, to websites we shouldn’t visit, and thoughts we shouldn’t think. Like Adam and Eve, we need to own this realization:

they realized that they were naked

We are naked in our sinfulness. We think we love and protect, but we are lost. Separateness from God gnaws at us. We feel it in guilt and in regret. If only I had loved better, if only I had been more charitable, if only I had held my tongue.

David knew his sin. Realizing his separateness from God, David cried out:

Cast me not out from your presence

David knew he was naked.

The Letter to the Roman tells us that Jesus bridged the gap, and saved humanity:

For if, by the transgression of the one,
death came to reign through that one,
how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace
and of the gift of justification
come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.

In Jesus’ coming David’s prayer was answered. Jesus came into the world to manifest God’s presence. He is here, among us. He is not far off – here is our hearts, here in these words, here on this altar, and here in this tabernacle, recently so rudely invaded.

Jesus is here, with the grace to keep us close, to guide us from sinfulness to life – true justification.

We cannot do it alone. We can do nothing to justify ourselves. We are not justified through our works, through our service, through offices and positions of authority, nor in pointing to the faults of others.

We must come here. We must walk up to the altar, heads down, sadness in eyes and voices – we must ask again and again:

Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

Jesus showed us the way. In the face of continual temptation He showed us that we have the ability to say no. He said:

—Get away, Satan!

He vanquished Satan. Thus we too can say, get away evil.

Lent is here. Time to face reality. We have sinned. With David we must say:

For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
—Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight.—

When we do that He will come with His grace, to call us back, to hold us, to heal us. Like Daid, we do not want to be apart from God. It is never too late. Call on Him today. He is here.

Amen.

All Right Reserved © 2005 - 2023