One of the greatest misconceptions that we may have about prayer is that we need to be in control of it. We think that it is all about what we say and how we communicate. While it is true that our words are important in prayer and that we are called to dispose ourselves to pray, the truth concerning prayer is that it is about what God wants for us and how He communicates His love to us.
We may think that prayer is about our telling God what we need. Certainly asking God for ourselves and others is a beautiful part of prayer that Jesus Himself recommended when He admonished us, “Ask and it will be given to you” (Mt 7:7). In our prayer of supplication, our hearts must be ready to receive what God wants to give us from heaven according to His will. Certainly we pray for our needs and those of others. We often ask the saints to pray for us as well.
As Catholics we believe that “…we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses…” (Heb 12:1). We know that these witnesses are the saints who “have preceded us into the kingdom” whose “intercession is their most exalted service to God’s plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world…” (Catechism of the Catholic Church # 2683).
God always sends us help in just the right way and by the right person in order to manifest His love and care for us. It seems to me that we think that we pick the saint who intercedes for us. That can often be true. But I am convinced that many times, according to God’s plan, a saint may pick us. I recently had that experience.
Over a year ago I read the story of Salesian priest that deeply touched my heart. As I read his story, he just seemed to jump off the page and say to me, “I am here for you!” Whenever I prayed to him, I felt a strong attraction to him and a sense of his presence. His name is Blessed Joseph Kowalski and he was a priest for only a short time in Krakow, Poland. A very devout young man, he entered the Society of St. Francis de Sales in 1927. He was known for his tremendous spirit of prayer, his devotion to the Blessed Mother, and his desire for holiness. He was a brilliant student. Ordained a priest in 1938, he was assigned as secretary to the provincial of his community and to work with the youth of the Parish of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Debnicki, a neighborhood of Krakow.
On May 23, 1941, Fr. Kowalski was arrested with 11 other Salesians because the Nazi occupiers feared the influence that they had over the young people whom they served. He was sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz where he spent a year suffering hard labor and harsh mistreatment (Jews survived three months in Auschwitz and Catholic priests six months). During the time he spent in Auschwitz he became well known for his joy, his courage in providing forbidden spiritual care, and the great charity he had for his fellow prisoners. He absolved the sins of the dying, strengthened the discouraged, spiritually comforted the poor men sentenced to death, and secretly brought Holy Communion to the inmates. He even managed to organize secret Masses in the barracks, led prayer, and helped all he could.
On June 2, 1942, he was chosen with some other priest prisoners to be transferred to the concentration camp at Dachau in Germany where there was a greater chance of survival. As he was being showered and deloused in preparation for his transfer, a guard saw that he had his hand closed around an object. The guard asked what it was and struck his hand with a whip. A rosary fell to the floor. The guard screamed to Fr. Kowalski, “Step on it!” He did not move. He refused to disrespect the rosary. As a result, there was not to be a trip to Dachau for him. Fr. Kowalski was separated from those being transferred and was sent to the special discipline unit where his treatment would be especially harsh.
On July 3, when the work day was over, his fellow prisoners lead Fr. Kowalski to the block. He had been beaten and abused without mercy over the last month and he needed assistance in walking. He knew that his end was near. Three of his five bunkmates had been executed. A comrade of his related that Fr. Kowalski was deep in prayer. He asked his comrade to pray with him for “all these men who are killing us.” He gave a piece bread he had to another saying, “You eat it, I won’t need it.” He went outside willingly to his death.
In the early hours of July 4, the sadistic guards were throwing prisoners from an embankment to hasten their death. If they survived, they were mocked and placed in a barrel that served as a kennel and made to bay like dogs for the amusement of their tormentors. Soup was poured on the ground and the prisoners were forced to lick it up from the dirt. Then they were drowned in a nearby cesspool.
Finally the cry came, “Where is that Catholic priest? He can bless them for their trip to eternity.” Other guards, laughing raucously, were beating Fr. Kowalski into the mud for their amusement. Driven by blows, he was brought still covered with sticky mud and dung, naked except for the tattered striped pants that he was holding up with one hand. They mocked him, beat him, made him stand on a barrel, and ordered him to impart “according to the Catholic rite, the last blessing for their trip to Paradise.”
One of Fr. Kowalski’s brother priests was crouched on the ground witnessing this scene. He testified, “Fr. Kowalski knelt on the barrel, made the Sign of the Cross, and began loudly, as if inspired, to recite slowly, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, ‘We fly to Thy Patronage’ and Hail Holy Queen. The eternal words of truth contained in the Lord’s Prayer deeply impressed the prisoners who from day to day, from hour to hour, expected in that place a sudden death, like that of those in the kennel who were leaving this valley of tears…” A young student who was laying aside of the priest friend of Fr. Kowalski whispered, “The world has never heard a prayer like this. Maybe not even in the catacombs did they pray like that.” In the early morning of July 4 Fr. Kowalski was drowned in the camp sewer.
Pope St. John Paul II who, when he was university student in Krakow had known Fr. Kowalski, beatified him with 107 other Polish victims of the Nazi persecution on June 13, 1999. Blessed Joseph Kowalski is known as the Martyr of the Rosary.
I believe that Blessed Joseph Kowalski picked me as one of those for whom he is interceding. He introduced himself to me and has extended his friendship to me. I have had two confirmations of this.
When I was planning my trip to Poland to visit my priest friend in Krakow this past May, he asked me by email, “What do you want to do when you come? Any special requests?” I replied, “I just want to see you and, if possible, visit Our Mother at her shrine in Czestochowa.” The day after I arrived in Krakow, we celebrated an early morning Mass and as we sat down to breakfast, I said to my friend, “There is one place I want to go and it is not far from here. St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Debnicki because Fr. Joseph Kowalski served there and young Karol Wotyla (Pope St. John Paul II) and his father went to Mass there.” My friend replied to me, “Oh, that’s amazing you would say that, we are going there for lunch today to celebrate the name day of some priests in our deanery.” “Wow!” I thought, “Fr. Kowalski doesn’t waste time in getting me to his old parish!” That day we had a great lunch in the Salesian house and afterwards I prayed before the image of Blessed Joseph Kowalski in the parish church where he himself had offered Mass. What a gift!
After I returned from Krakow, I received a phone call from a friend from Columbus who used to live in Pittsburgh. She is originally from Krakow. She told me that she and her husband were coming to Pittsburgh for a day with her parents who are visiting from Poland. She asked if I would be available to meet her parents. I said that I would be delighted to do so. During their visit her mother asked me about my recent trip to Poland and inquired if I liked Krakow. I told her I loved Krakow and that I had visited there many times. She wanted to know what memorable moments I had during my visit. I told her that the entire trip was special and then I went on to share, “One particularly beautiful experience for me was visiting St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Debnicki, because of the association with Fr. Kowalski and Karol Wotyla.’ She looked at me, smiled and declared, “That is our home parish and I go to daily Mass there.” I laughed out-loud and exclaimed, “OK, Fr. Kowlaski, I get it. You always have your eyes on me.”
One might say that these are just coincidences. I just say, “In God’s Providence, there are no coincidences. It is great to have friends in high places!” I don’t know why Blessed Joseph Kowalski chose me. Perhaps because he knows I need all the help I can get! I don’t know what the future holds but I do know this – he inspires me and I feel his presence with me. Thank you, God! A friend of yours is a friend of mine. We are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses.
Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh