The victory of the cross

[Traudel]

The victory of the cross

“No one, however weak, is denied a share in
the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help
of the prayer of Christ. His prayer brought benefit
to the multitude that raged against Him. How much more
does it bring to those who turn to Him in repentance.”
– St. Leo the Great

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5 June – Blessed Malgorzata Szewczyk

(1828-1905)
She was called “an Angel of Kindness” – Religious and Founder of the
Daughters of the Sorrowful Mother of God, known commonly as the
“Seraphic Sisters,” Apostle of Mercy and Charity to the poor, needy,
homeless, the sick and orphans – born as Łucja Szewczyk in 1828 in
Szepetówka, Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine and died on 5 June 1905 in Nieszawa,
Aleksandrów, Poland. Patronage – the Seraphic Sisters.

Łucja Szewczyk was born in 1828 in a noble family in Volhynia.
Orphaned at an early age, she was cared for by her half-sister. In the
difficult situation of partitions and persecution of the Church at the
age of 20, she made her tertiary profession in the Third Order of St
Francis. She learned to love “love who is not loved” from the poor man
from Assisi.

At the age of 42, together with another tertiary she went on a
dangerous journey to the Holy Land. She went all the way to Odessa on
foot. There she boarded a ship that sailed to her dream destination.
In Jerusalem, she worked at St Joseph’s Hospital alongside French
nuns. During her three-year stay in the land of Jesus, she surrendered
her life to Our Lady of Sorrows. Here, in the footsteps of the Lord,
she discovered her calling – she wished to live “for the glory of God
and for the good of suffering humanity.”

After returning from the Holy Land and Loreto, in 1880, she went to
Zakroczym near Warsaw. On the advice of Father Honorat Koźmiński, who
became her Spiritual Director, the first step she took was to invite
two poor and sick elderly women to live in her apartment. According
to her memoirs, she carried two elderly women on her own back, whom
she cared for. She took care of them in secret, because charitable or
church activities were forbidden, according to the decrees of the
Russian Emperor, who at the time ruled over Poland. When taking her
Franciscan vows, in addition to obedience, poverty and chastity, she
took a vow pledging mercy to the needy. Father Honorat wrote: “Łucja
felt a desire to devote herself to the misery of the poor … She found
paupers and devoted herself to them with a strange passion….
Encouraged by her example, pious people began to join her. … God
blessed her.”

Later to accommodate the growing number and better serve those in
need, she decided to purchase a new house with a garden. On the feast
of Our Lady of Sorrows – on 8 April 1881, she founded a new
Congregation, initially under the name of the Sisters of the Poor.
Father Honorat chose their Superior, Łucja, who took the name
Małgorzata. For the first 10 years, the sisters operated in the
Russian partition in a hidden way. Mother Małgorzata opened houses in
Warsaw and Częstochowa. In 1891 she went to Galicia, where there was
greater religious freedom. She founded a religious house in Hałcnów.
The Congregation adopted Franciscan habits and a new name: Daughters
of Our Lady of Sorrows.

A year later, the construction of the Monastery in Oświęcim began,
which became the Motherhouse of the “Seraphic Sisters.” The sisters
created an orphanage for children, a shelter for sick and abandoned
old men, a tailoring and embroidery workshop for girls. There was also
an orphanage in Żywiec, a religious institution in Wielka Wieś
(teaching), in Przemyśl (to serve in a local hospital), Stryj and
Frydrychowice (orphanages for children, a shelter for the elderly),
Siemiechów (teaching), Przemyślany (hospital ministry), Drohobych
(orphanage, orphanage), in Mogila near Kraków (teaching in elementary
school) and Jarosław (hospital ministry). Mother Małgorzata, by her
example, encouraged the sisters, by using the sick and neglected, to
reach their souls and to preserve the “holy virtue of poverty.”

In 1904, after 23 years, Mother Małgorzata, “burdened with age and
physical weaknesses,” resigned from the post of Superior General. She
went to Nieszawa, a branch which at that time was the only one
operating within the Russian partition. She became a “little” sister
again. She continued to serve the needy and, toward the end of her
life, offered her suffering for their intentions.

The inhabitants of Nieszawa called their Mother Małgorzata “an Angel
of Kindness.” She spent the last months of her life “praying
constantly.” She died on 5 June 1905. Crowds of people attended her
funeral in 1905. The “mother of the poor and orphaned” was beatified
on 9 June 2013 in Krakow, where the Motherhouse of the congregation
she founded is currently located, at 3 Łowiecka.

In 1931, her remains were moved from Nieszawa to the cemetery chapel
in Oświęcim and in 1951 – to the local church which she herself had
built.

Mother Małgorzata makes us careful not to pass by a person who may not
seem in need but suffers from loneliness, rejection and ill health.
It is not enough to secure someone materially or give him professional
help. One must first see a person, a human being, because human
suffering has a specific face.

Bl Małgorzata ‘s Order now operates in places such as Belarus and
France and in 2005 had 679 religious in 76 houses. The Order received
the Papal Decree of praise from Pope Pius X on 12 February 1909 and
full pontifical approval from Pope Pius XII on 3 March 1953. At some
stage the order was aggregated to the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin.

Bl Małgorzata was Beatified on 9 June 2013, Sanktuarium Bożego
Miłosierdzia, Kraków, Poland by Cardinal Angelo Amato.

https://anastpaul.com/2020/06/05/


The Sacred Heart and the Holy Viaticum

“The Sacred Heart of Jesus is adorable in itself, not only as the
living symbol of His human-divine love but, also, as part of His most
holy humanity, insofar as it is hypostatically united to the divinity
of the Word….
He has bound us to His Heart by a loving chain of graces and of mercies!
How could we dare to break this chain, or to ignore such love?
Love demands love in return.
Favours demand gratitude.
It would be disastrous for us to display indifference and coldness,
or, worse still, to respond to such great love, by committing new
offences!”
--Antonio Cardinal Bacci

Saint Quote:
Let us stand fast in what is right and prepare our souls for trial. .
. . Let us be neither dogs that do not bark nor silent onlookers nor
paid servants who run away before the wolf.
--Saint Boniface

Bible Quote:
What shall I render to the Lord
for all his bounty to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord (Ps. 116:12-13) RSVCE


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PRAYER IN TIME OF SUFFERING

Behold me, my beloved Jesus,
weighed down under the burden of my trials and sufferings,
I cast myself at Your feet,
that You may renew my strength and my courage,
while I rest here in Your Presence.
Permit me to lay down my cross in Your Sacred Heart,
for only Your infinite goodness can sustain me;
only Your love can help me bear my cross;
only Your powerful hand can lighten its weight.
O Divine King, Jesus,
whose heart is so compassionate to the afflicted,
I wish to live in You;
suffer and die in You.
During my life be to me my model and my support;
At the hour of my death,
be my hope and my refuge.

Amen.