Eucharystia i modlitwa w świetle nauczania Sługi Bożego Stefana Kardynała Wyszyńskiego

Abstract

In 1942 Maria Okońska established “Eight” – the subsequent Secular Institute of Women Helpers of the Virgin Mary of Jasna Góra, Mother of the Church. Since 1943 priest doctor Stefan Wyszyński, the later Primate of Poland, had been the father and spiritual supervisor of the Institute. Until his death in 1981 the Primate often met Helpers of the Virgin Mary, took care of the Institute and the spiritual formation of its members. He organised monthly communion days, yearly retreat, services and frequent adoration of the Holy Sacrament, as well as led the call of Jasna Góra. The great majority of his lectures, including about 3000 utterances, have been recorded on audio cassettes and written down afterwards. Only some missing recordings have of necessity been reproduced from notes made by members of the Institute. The whole material has been gathered in the Institute’s archive in Choszczówka, Warsaw, and has become the source of the present study. The presentation's aim is to introduce to the readers Cardinal Wyszyński’s preaching about Eucharist and prayer. Considering the limited capacity of this work it is not possible to present the whole question, but only a few selected aspects. In consequence of the above mentioned this study has been divided into three parts. The first one introduces the Primate’s preaching about Eucharist. The second part refers to his reflection about prayer and its meaning in the Christian life. The last section presents prayer in five aspects that Venerable Stefan Wyszyński considered of great importance. According to his views a prayer should be: theological, liturgical, common, devoted to the Virgin Mary and apostolic. According to the Primate of the Millennium Mass is the essence of the Christian life. It is the greatest favour of a day for a believing Christian. During a Mass Christ is not only scarifying Himself to His Father. He also invites to sacrifice oneself together with Him. A man on his side needs to make an effort to experience the Eucharistic Sacrifice fruitfully. Besides the sacrificial aspect of Mass its social feature – directing towards neighbours, is extremely important. Especially taking Communion must build union. One must receive Christ in Eucharist with the living faith and care for thanksgiving. If one cannot meet the Saviour sacramentally it is worth practicing so called spiritual communion. In Primate Wyszyński’s teaching prayer appears as the state of unification with God. At times a man’s communion with God is solely habitual, on account of his numerous tasks. However, prayer is a continual human need, a feature of a man's life. One must learn to keep unity with God despite everyday fuss. Prayer is a fundamental thing not only because of a man’s life; the necessity of prayer arises of apostolic reasons as well. Prayer makes an important means of helping the Church and Christ living in people. God considers adoration and thanksgiving the sweetest prayer. It is worth addressing Christ, who is present in our neighbours. Serving people itself is already a form of prayer. It is good if a prayer is theological, i.e. is an act of worshiping God with the revelation revealed by Christ; liturgical and therefore experienced in the spirit of communion with the praying Church, in the spirit of truths and mysteries considered in each part of the liturgical year; common, i.e. for the intention of the widely understood needs of the Church and the Catholic hierarchy; devoted to the Virgin Mary and consequently open to the influence of the Virgin Mary in accordance with the course of the Lord’s feasts and ceremonies devoted to the Virgin Mary; finally apostolic, i.e. based on joining prayer with work to make it the adoration of God in people. It is worth remembering that all above mentioned thoughts of Stefan Wyszyński were directed to a limited group of members of the Institute of Women Helpers, to secular consecrated people, i.e. people living in the world but according to the evangelical counsels. This study does not consider speeches of Venerable Stefan Wyszyński during official church ceremonies. Nevertheless, the Primate’s preaching included in his ascetical lectures seems particularly deep and presents unique value. Consequently, it is representative of all his utterances referring to this matter. Furthermore, on account of the abundance of Cardinal Wyszyński’s preaching, the article shows solely some selected thoughts of his.