(Southern Poland) More than a year after the beatification of Mother Maria Celeste Crostarosa (18/06/2016), we wanted to make the point with Sr. Casimira Kut, a Redemptorist nun of the Polish convent of Bielsko-Biala, on how the communities of the order lived this important period after the great event.
Sr. Casimira, What the beatification of the Mother has brought new ferment into your communities? What signs? Can you trace a path of what has produced this new yeast so far?
“The celebration of the first anniversary of the Beatification of the Mother and then its liturgical feast were important events for us, for the Redemptorists and for the lay friends of Mother Celeste. First of all, I have to say that a beautiful icon of our Foundress (painted by Sr. Maria, Ukrainian nun) was placed in the chapel of the monastery to make plasticly represented her closeness to us distant sisters who live and perpetuate her charism in different parts of the world.
It was certainly right moment for us to prepare for the first anniversary of the beatification (June 18) with a triduum of prayer. On the first day we sang, together with Redemptorist students and Fr. Tomasz Jarosz, the hymn to the Blessed M. Celeste; in the second day we animated a way of the Cross with the texts of our Foundress, while on the third day we sang the Litanies, written by one of our sisters. During the celebration of the anniversary, Fr. Mirosław Grakowicz, in the solemn Eucharist, once again presented the Blessed Mother, recalling the words of Card. Angelo Amato: “the Saints are God’s masterpieces”.
On the occasion of the liturgical feast of 11th September, moments of reflection and rich spirituality have followed one another in an interesting form of Triduum; some Redemptorist Fathers (Fr Mariusz Chyrowski – Fr Witold Hetnar – Father Marek Urban) guided us on a path of meditation on three fundamental pillars of our vocational choice: CONTEMPLATION – LOVE – COMMUNITY. To celebrate the 321st birthday of Mother Maria Celeste, October 31, Fr. Sylwester Cabala, in a very special conference, wanted to share with us his research on St. Clement and the Servant of God, Bernard Łubieński, talking about their meetings and especially their commitment to obtain the Redemptorists in Poland.
Once a month the Crostarosian group deepens the spirituality of the Blessed Mother more and more, while formation meetings are held in the monastery every three months and are prepared by Sr. Ewa and myself. Spiritual retreats and days of renewal of the laity are a constant part of our contemplative apostolate.
We are trying to present Mary Celeste to all those who want to know her and we ourselves are happy to discover more and more her depth, which is a gift for the Church of today. Every month on 11th we meditate on the steps of her writings. Every day we ask graces for her intercession in the name of those who come to us and await her canonization “.
A year undoubtedly full of important moments and new ferments in Redemptorist spirituality. So much joy spread throughout the world, but what about the harvest?
“In the last year Jesus has blessed us with new vocations. On 18th March Magdalena Żerdzińska and Patrycja Dlugoborska, began their formation as postulants; instead the novices Izabela Stokłosa and Alla Kapush made their first profession on February 4 and May 20 respectively.
We have been living in Bielsko-Biała for 25 years and the Eucharist has been celebrated in our chapel for 25 years, even though our community started its mission in Poland three years earlier in Tuchów. Bishop Tadeusz gave us a relic (a drop of blood) of St. John Paul II, Pope who from the beginning blessed our rising community: so now the Holy Father continues to be present among us.
There are four Redemptorist communities in your territory, How is the relationships between them?
“Contacts between the four Slavic communities and that of Kazakhstan are very lively. First of all we share our daily life, joys and concerns. If necessary and according to the possibilities we help each other. The knowledge of the Slavic languages allows us to do it.
We share among ourselves what we are able to process or translate on Blessed M. Celeste. Our Sisters gratefully bring out the Crostarosian Notebooks in Polish and we are happy that their young nuns willingly learn the Polish language. This ability to communicate in Slavic languages contributes significantly to the construction of the unit. With skype we can exchange opinions or advise them in different searches.
The contacts with the Redemptorist Fathers then create an important and beautiful space for living the Gospel and for completing oneself in the mission: the Redemptorist students also participate in some common celebrations. Our joy was doubled when the new priests Fr. Łukasz and Fr. Michał celebrated the first Mass this year.
We are very grateful for the information that the Padre Pio TV disseminated about joyful events in the Order: professions, income, hopes and beautiful initiatives. To all of you we wish the hearts open to the Holy Spirit, the creativity and courage of the Blessed Mother Mary Celeste. The coming Advent will amaze us with the love of God and form our hearts in the image of Mary, ready to receive Jesus and respond to His every call “.
(from Michele Ciani – 28 November 2017 – www.teleradiopadrepio.it)
