There is only one thing on the earth I desire, that all people know and love Lord Jesus Hidden in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, who is the perpetual Offer of Supplication for our sins and become united in him, and not in a sinful man, who parishes like a shadow.
Blessed Maria Franciszka Kozlowska
In his last post , Loukas wrote:
…people of great sensitivity toward evil are all terrified that even a single human being could suffer the torments of hell. Even though they know that it is impossible to rule them out theoretically, they won’t accept them, won’t find peace, will toss, pray and cry: and this very prayer and crying are at the heart of Orthodox monasticism, more than moral regulations and virtues. As St. Silouan writes:
The man who has got to know God … cannot find peace on earth. He thinks then: “When I face Christ, I will implore his grace for the whole Christian folk.” … And goes on thinking: “I will pray for the whole humankind, that all people come back to God and find their peace in him, for God’s love desires that everyone is saved.
Fot. Rev. Deacon M.D. Mames
What comes to my mind is the recent Paschal Vigil in my community – Kritische Gemeente IJmond . That evening, we chose a bunch of Biblical passages to ponder, to each adding a poetic text and a hymn. Second such triad began with a short sentence directly preceding the story of the Flood: “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time…” Shocking words, but not less shocking, at least for some, is the reaction of the community. I put it like that in my sermon: “During our Easter Vigil something very strange happens. Already during the preparation we stopped at that and asked ourselves the question what it is actually all about. The Creator comes to the conclusion that there is nothing good about his creature. And what does the congregation do? The congregation says: IT’S NOT TRUE! Because: “sometimes the light breaks through in people…”, “from time to time I met them on my way: people who surround me with their warmth”, people who are human in such a catchy manner! Look, if you ask yourself the question why and what for “we still exist” as a critical congregation, that is why and what for. Because there has to be someone who cries out: IT’S NOT TRUE!” The community of Christ “cannot find peace on earth”, cannot do anything else but “toss, pray and cry”. “When I face Christ, I will implore his grace for the whole Christian folk” says St. Silouan of Athos …
In 1893 something happened in the life of Sister Maria Franciszka Kozlowska, Polish “hidden” nun, the foundress of St. Mother Clara Congregation of Poor Sisters:
In the year 93, on August 2nd, after hearing the Holy Mass and receiving the Holy Communion, I was suddenly taken away from my senses and placed before the Divine Majesty. Unimaginable light overtook my soul and it was then showed to me: the general corruption of the world and the end times – then the moral decay among clergy and the sins the Priests commit. – I saw God’s Justice aimed at punishing the world and his Mercy giving the perishing world, as the last means of rescue, the Veneration of the Most Blessed Sacrament and the help of Mary. After a moment of silence, the Lord spoke: “As a means of spreading this Veneration, I wish that a Congregation of Priests be established under the name of the Mariavites .”
At first glance, the “Veneration of the Most Blessed Sacrament and the help of Mary” are almost as pressing the right button on the “control panel” of the universe. If there is someone to press it, the world will survive. Is the “Work of Great Mercy”, as the revelation the Blessed Maria Franciszka received was called, a kind of insurance policy? It’s hard to deny that it was how monastic communities were often perceived. The monks were supposed to fight a spiritual battle for the salvation of the world, and especially for the salvation of the founders of their monasteries, founding of which was often a form of expiation for the injustice they did. Is the revelation given to the Blessed Maria Franciszka a “Divine affirmation” of that way of thinking? Is God playing that game with us? Or perhaps it is about something else?
10 years after the event described above, after having returned from Rome, where the Mariavites tried to get papal acceptance for their movement, Mother Maria Franciszka received other revelations:
On the octave of the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary (1903) Lord Jesus showed me the glory the Saints give to Him in Heaven and said: “I wish that people on the earth give me such Glory in the Most Blessed Sacrament, joining the Saints; so that the earth may become a reflection of heaven.” Then Lord Jesus let me know that the Inquisition will reject the history of the Mariavites presented to the Holy Father – and said: “They won’t believe in supernatural things, because their faith is dead”; he also explained to me that the only reason I was given the order to go to Rome was to learn about the present state of the church. Then Lord Jesus commanded that of the people who are under my leadership be created “The Catholic, which means universal, Union of Perpetual Imploring Adoration”, which is to be led by the Mariavite Priests; he taught me how that Union should be organized and commended that I write the rule of life (regulations) for all its members and give it to the Holy Father. Finally, he said: “Do not worry; even if everyone were to turn against you, I will accomplish my work, for my church needs a reform at its very foundation.”
Source
Adoration in the Mariavite monastery in Felicjanow
“The Perpetual Imploring Adoration…” treated not only as a task for enclosed monks and nuns, but as a universal calling – is it possible to link it somehow to both what Loukas wrote about and the community’s protest from the liturgy of the Paschal Vigil?
When I ponder the meaning of adoration, what comes to my mind are the last words of Psalm 23, which was sung last Sunday, called the Sunday of the Good Shepherd, in many churches of Western Christianity: “And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days.” These words strike me especially hard in the beautiful translation by a Dutch poet from the 17
th
century,
Joost van Vondel
:
Ik zal Gods huis en zegenrijke tempel
bewonen dag en nacht,
en nimmermeer verlaten Arons drempel,
maar sterven op mijn wacht!
Of course, I am not able to translate them in a way reflecting even a little of Vondel’s artism, but I will try to at least convey their meaning:
In the House of God, the blessed temple,
I will dwell day and night,
and I will never leave Aaron’s threshold,
but I will die on my watch!
To remain close to God, in God’s house, in the temple, at the feet of the altar, is for me the essence of adoration. To remain in worship, in silent amazement at the “continuous miracle” (Dag Hammarskjöld) of God’s presence. It doesn’t necessarily have to mean physically being in any “exceptionally sanctified” place. The Rev. Prof. Konrad M.P. Rudnicki, a Mariavite priest, describes the way he practices adoration as follows:
It happens relatively rarely that I have the opportunity to adore before the Blessed Sacrament or a tabernacle. I don’t have suitable conditions in my home chapel for reserving the Sanctissimum. While adoring, I unite myself in thoughts with the churches where the true Eucharistic elements are reserved.
But what is the sense of imploring? In that context, two Biblical stories come to my mind. The first one comes from the book of Genesis. In chapter 18 (verses 18-32) Abraham haggles with God about the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah in an attempt to protect both the cities against the outburst of God’s wrath. In the second one (Exodus 23:7-14) Moses intercedes for the people who have just worshiped “the golden calf.” Altough Abrahams intercession was to no real avail, as we all know, Moses did manage to change God’s decision. Those who interpret and comment on those texts have quite a big problem. For God doesn’t change his decisions and people simply have to agree with them. That is why this situation is treated as a sort of a “pedagogical trick” of God. This is also the path the Rev. Prof. Rudnicki takes, while talking about the imploring adoration:
Reasonable parents buy their child a toy if they ask for it persistently for some time. A toy received after the first caprice or given even before the child asks for it, is usually not respected. God is a reasonable parent. He wants to offer his mercy to those who truly desire it.
Walter Brueggemann
Although the idea of the “pedagogical trick” doesn’t appeal to me very much, I want to take the vision of God as a Reasonable Parent very seriously. But when I ask myself what is for me the sign of parental reasonableness, I come to the conclusion that it is not only the awareness of the limitations children are subjected to, but also they themselves. Perhaps someone is saying right in this moment: “Now you really went too far. ‘God subjected to limitations’ is a heresy!” Lets start by saying that, as a follower of the episcopal principle, I generally think that heresies are mainly a problem for my bishop, whom I gave the address of this blog more than once, but as yet haven’t received any remarks about my writings. If I receive them, I will worry about them. Now I simply continue the thought I began. Walter Brueggemann , American theologian, expert in the field of the Old Testament, speaks of God as a “recovering practitioner of violence”. On one blog I recently found a description of this vision marvelous in its simplicity: “By this he means that God used to think violence was a good idea, but then gave up on it. However, like all addicts, He has relapses. Of which the cross is either the final deliverance, or another relapse.” Yet this gradual process of God’s recovery from “practicing violence” (who hasn’t heard of domestic violence…) has – despite the “relapses” – its “point of no return”, which is the incarnation: “Incarnation inaugurates a genuine new-ness in God’s new covenant with humanity & cosmos.” Walter Brueggemann would be probably surprised by that thought, but for me it is the moment to refer to Mary – the Mother of God, the Mother of Word Incarnate (and actually – as the title Theotokos may be also interpreted – the one who is the continuous “Immaculate Conception”, the one who continuously bears and gives birth to God, the conscious instrument of the Incarnation seen not – or at least not only – as a single act, but as a continuous process every human being is called to participate in). But this time I won’t elaborate on that topic.
In light of Brueggemann’s vision both what Loukas wrote about and the revelation of the Blessed Maria Franciszka acquire a new meaning. Appealing to God’s mercy in the imploring adoration, we take part in… the process of God’s recovery. I would like to – since I’m committing a heresy anyway – refer to the words of Jerzy Prokopiuk , a Gnostic and Anthroposophist, “the chief heretic of Poland”, which, I admit, appeal to me very much:
In that sense, the human being is not only the bearer of sense and values, which he receives from the spiritual world, but is also the co-creator of this sense and values. Namely, he receives some patterns, which he uses to weave his individual structure of life. In this sense, he is a mediator between the spiritual and the physical world, but also the other way around. Some models, patterns, senses and values he receives from the spiritual world, while through his own experience in a given life he transfers some experience, perhaps still
unknown in the spiritual world, from the physical world to the spiritual one. In other words, a human being is an instrument both for the spiritual world, which he in a way realizes, actualizing the possibilities that world has, and on the other hand carries out the process of salvation of the natural, or physical world.
A few days ago, during a meeting of the discussion group “Questions of Faith – Life Questions”, which I am moderating in the Old Catholic parish in Amsterdam, we talked among other things about those who abandon faith because of the evil which is happening in the world. I have to admit that I treat such decisions with understanding and respect, just as I respect people’s right to get out of every relationship in which violence occurs. I don’t have much to say to people who say “No” to God when faced with suffering: their own and others. I only pray that I can stay with them at least for a while and somehow share their grief, their rebel, their sense of being left alone. However, at the same time I notice that I can’t do it myself. Is it a sign of faithfulness or of the “ Stockholm syndrome ”? I don’t know. But, remaining with God and continuously feeding on the stories of how he, falling and getting up all over again, tries to recover from his addiction to being violent, I really hope that I may somehow be taking part in “actualizing the possibilities in him”, and “by the way”, more or less successfully, I myself try to recover from my own “will to power”… Perhaps being a believer is somehow like being “His Majesty’s most loyal opposition”, His Majesty’s the Creator and Ruler of the universe?
