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1–5 September 1971 The Bishops’ Conference Retreat at Jasna Góra Led by Bishop L[ech] Kaczmarek1
1 September
Introductory [meditation]:
1. Dinumerare nos doce dies nostros, ut perveniamus ad sapientiam cordis [So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom] (Ps.).2
2. Voluntas Tua – pax mea [Your will – my peace] (St Gregory of Nazianzus).
3. God is omnipotent – man is impotent? (Primate).
2 September
Rosary; Petitionary prayers; Prayer to the Holy Spirit; Participation in the Mass celebrated by His Excellency Primate Stefan Wyszyński3
Meditation: I turn to the Mother of souls, of my soul! The Mother of conscience, the Mother of divine grace, the Mother of the inner man, the Mother of the inner mysterium – at the start of the retreat that is to shed new light on the way of the soul. I entrust to Her all (theological, diocesan Synod’s, personal) concerns.
Talk: Episcopus – imago Patris [Bishop – image of the Father]. How to act on this ‘image’? (paura [fear], prudenza [prudence], pazienza [patience]). Not to take any decision without prayer. The proper meaning of the dialogue with priests. Goodness and firmness.
Ancillary reflection: Confrontation of fatherhood as a value which comes from above, from the Father, with the contemporary idea of social life, which comes from below, and which, in a way, does not leave any place for the father. A fervent prayer for fatherhood to be fulfilled in the Church despite these unfavourable circumstances – although, as the retreat leader said, ‘priesthood (and so also episcopacy) will be ever more difficult’ (Malraux).
The Little Hours (word for the Week of Mercy)
Talk: ‘Blessed is he whom thou dost choose and bring near’ (Ps.)4 – the problem of emptiness as the cause of priests’ resignations. Priest, bishop: forma gregis [example to the flock].5
Conversations with priests who are going down a path with no way out – formational conversations aimed at renewing priesthood in individual priests. Care for priests and their pastoral duties. The bishop knows what threatens contemporary priests (neomodernism, Bultmann, Küng) – practical materialism, pessimism (‘earthly life is not the highest value’ – Fr Kolbe’s words).6 The lack of prayer, routine, lack of love for learning – the bishop knows that priests need unity, mutual love, openness to the world (Ecclesia semper reformanda [the Church always being reformed]).7
Reflection: (a) petition for the ability to turn to the value that lies beyond the value of earthly life; (b) ([illegible] – the witness [illegible] of my devotion to God); (c) on the topic of what serves the unity among bishops and what impedes that unity (de affectu collegialitatis [on the feeling of collegiality]).
(‘The bishop is the parish priest of parish priests and the father of the fathers of families’ – St Francis de Sales.)
Spiritual reading: (1) Sacraments of the post-Concilliar Church; (2) Znak;8 (3) on Fr M. Kolbe
Rosary (longer); The Way of the Cross (shorter)
Talk: Episcopus – homo doloris [Bishop – man of suffering]. Longing for heaven, thoughts about death and eternity; let us not be afraid of death, but let us be afraid of the responsibility for life; responsibility for ‘our sheep’.
Suffering in the bishop’s life: falsi fratres [false brothers] and others – one needs deep trust in Christ. Suffering is marked by a particular kind of consecration, hence our eyes are turned upwards, ‘beyond the crossbeam of the cross’. The philosophy of suffering is best understood when one becomes humble and aware of the frailty of life. One needs to prepare oneself for suffering without becoming immersed in suffering. To be a Christian and not to want to suffer is a blasphemy (Tertullian). Suffering brings us closer to God in a fuller, faster and firmer way. It is a condition of spiritual maturity.
Petition to Mother Church to stand in suffering (Stabat Mater) and not to fall, and to maintain ‘Magnificat’.
Adoration (thoughts on the fourth talk); (Anticipated) Matins; Holy Mass concelebrated in the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Reading (afterwards)
Eucharistic service (Primate: topics: for authentic priesthood at the Synod, consecration of the entire Church to the Mother of the Church, beatification of Fr Kolbe, collegial unity of the Bishops’ Conference)
Holy Hour (evening); Compline
3 September
Holy Hour (morning); Rosary; Petitionary prayers; Lauds; Prime; Concelebrated Mass
Talk: Episcopus – custos fidei – custos morum [Bishop – custodian of faith – custodian of morals]. A description of the situation in Poland and around the world (theocentrism – communocentrism – anthropocentrism – anthropotheism). Novelties, progressivism (effrenata novitas [unbridled striving for novelty]). The attitude to theologians – with a simultaneous sense of the bishop’s responsibility, his special responsibility for faith, ‘strengthen your brethren in faith’! (Gospel).9 To defend law and truth until death! (Bishop Fischer). At the same time, it is necessary to renew theology and kerygma, to change the language while maintaining the identity of the content.
Contemporary man finds himself in a crisis which is directly proportional to the difficulty of issues he needs to solve and to the price he pays for his mistakes.
The Church abides in divine truth by the power of Christ’s guarantee – this is the special mission and responsibility of the bishops.
The question of preaching the word of God in a way that speaks to everyone (pateat [so that it becomes accessible], placeat [so that it pleases], moveat [so that it moves]). The danger of certain truths of faith being marginalised.
Reflection: Am I to blame for anything in this area? Petition for light (opus fac evangelistae, ministerium tuum imple [do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry]).10
The Little Hours; Writing a letter to the youth on Fr Maksymilian Kolbe
Talk: Episcopus – vir orationis [Bishop – man of prayer].
St Francis de Sales: The salvation of your neighbour is also your own salvation. The best means to achieving perfection is preaching the Gospel/(evangelical). Delectatio contemplationis [delight of contemplation] has to be accompanied by pastoral zeal:
Eucharistic and Marian piety. Enduring and faithful piety, despite many tasks and fatigue. To the latter two ‘non est applicandum totum cor’ [‘one cannot devote one’s whole heart’]. To draw energy for work, for tasks from prayer. To be Mary and Martha at the same time.
(The prayer of Copernicus; the prayer of van Beethoven.)
The feeling of God’s closeness.
One needs to promote the prayer of adoration, thanksgiving. To submit all in prayer. ‘Prayer is a dialogue with God, even though we often turn it into a monologue.’ Kierkegaard: To pray means to listen – the more internal prayer becomes, the less I want to say in it.
Let us entrust our ability to pray to the Mother of the Church – the one who prayed with the apostles in the Upper Room.
Spiritual reading (afterwards); The Way of the Cross along the defensive walls of the Jasna Góra Monastery (a different bishop led the prayer at each Station); Rosary (on the walls); Vespers
Talk: Episcopus – vir predicationis [Bishop – man of preaching]. He always has to follow the truth in his use of the word, nulla acceptio personarum [regardless of the person]. At the same time, he should show understanding (humanism, moralism). But first and foremost, Christ has to be the central point of his life (re-evaluation).
marriage ↔ celibacy
horizontalism ↔ verticalism
The proper vision of the human being and their happiness, the disappearance of inner life – the cardinal virtues. The principle of ‘the cult of man’ – in addition to that, propensity for inner life led in isolation from others. Meanwhile the true Christian is the one who has supernatural love for their neighbours.
(what to preach on selectively?)
Reflection: quando munus praedicationis adimpleam? [when do I fulfil the task of preaching?].
Matins; Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; (Film about the Jasna Góra Monastery); The Jasna Góra Appeal; Litany of the Saints; Compline
4 September
Meditation on the Act of Consecration to the Mother of God: (The fact that Jesus Christ gives us His Mother for ours – this is an important element of the order of grace and the entire givenness.)
Concelebrated Mass; Thanksgiving; Rosary; Petitionary prayers; Prayer to the Holy Spirit; Lauds; Prime
Talk: (On liturgy; bishop – liturgy.) The bishop must be the preacher of truth in adverse times (love in opposition to hatred). One has to pay much attention to liturgy. The bishop should turn his face to everyone. The implementation of the Council: the putting into practice of mysterium salutis [the mystery of salvation], understood better than ever before. This all (even ecumenism and dialogue) takes place through the liturgy. ‘My task is to serve Christ the Lord’ – this is the basis of the liturgical attitude. The Church is never more true to itself than in the liturgy celebrated by bishops. The Mother of God, who looked after, took care of and revealed Jesus, is the role model.
The Little Hours; Writing a note on sacred architecture
Talk: (On striving for happiness.) The law of harmony; the law of struggle; the law of development – these three laws govern our striving for happiness. In all this, one has to constantly rely on God’s mercy, so that God’s grace in me is not fruitless. Ferrari (Italian mathematician) – one understands Christianity better while on one’s knees. Zeal and great devotion to the Mother of God. To trust especially in moments of sadness and dejection. (There is not and cannot be a bishop who is entirely calm about everything.) Mihi vivere Xristos est et mori lucrum [For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain].11 Through all these paths described here, the bishop wins salvation. He walks towards it, leading others to it.
The only joy that can fill the human soul fully is God. Solus Deus [Only God]. Mary’s example comes from this.
In the afternoon: Conclusion; Confession; Chapter 15 of St John; Reflection in the chapel; The Way of the Cross; Reading
Ultimum autem officium coram SS. in capella BMV: ubi festivitas diei sequentis ferventer praeparata est [The last service before the Blessed Sacrament in the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary: where tomorrow’s festivity was being fervently prepared]
Vespers; Compline; Matins; Penitential psalms; Rosary
On this last day I experienced a particular awareness of God in His personal transcendence in relation to the created world: the awareness of the Creator and Father, who is one God with the Son and the Holy Spirit. At the same time, an awareness of the extraordinary immanence of this God in the world, above all in humankind, by the power of redemption performed by the Son, from where sanctification in the Holy Spirit comes. The awareness of God who holds the world and permeates the world.
Mary is present in this mystery in a special way, She is particularly closely united with redemption and sanctification, and through these with the Church.
Evening adoration in the Chapel of Jasna Góra: Preparation for the Act of Consecration of the World to the Mother of the Church (Primate: ‘being led by almost foolish faith’)
5 September
The Act of Consecration of the World to the Mother of the Church: concelebrated High Mass at 11.00 a.m. In the afternoon: the coronation of the image of Our Lady of Solace in Wieluń (5.00 p.m.)
5–6 July 1973 Kalwaria Zebrzydowska
Dies recollectionis [Reflection days] of double nature: thanksgiving and petition; the day’s aim was to bring together different matters as well as to prepare us for holiday.
5 July
Meditation: reference to last year’s retreat; Adoration; Liturgy of the Hours
Holy Hour: Priesthood and sacrifice are inscribed very deeply into the reality of creation: of the world and of the human being. While this reality, on the one hand, shows the dependence of everything that is created on the Creator, on the other hand, it in a particular way expresses and actualises the relationship of the gift, the giving of oneself, which is special to the human being as a person. This relation is ‘introduced’ by Christ into the Trinitarian, that is ultimate, dimension.
6 July
Lauds; Holy Mass; Daytime prayers; Rosary
Meditation: The Little Ways of Jesus1 – in relation to yesterday’s primary reflection, a meditation on the matters pro praeteritio et pro futuro [relating to the past and future] connected to the petitionary prayer for these issues.
The Way of the Cross; Litany of the Saints; Penitential psalms; Adoration
(Reading: Prof. G. Labuda, ‘Factum Św. Stanisława’ [The Factum of St Stanislaus]2 – remarks)
9–12 August 1973 Retreat at Bachledówka1 Topic: SS-ma Trinitas[The Holy Trinity]
9 August
Vespers from 3.00 p.m.
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament: Xtus praesens nobis in Patre, Xtus dans nobis cum Patre Spiritum SS-um. – Homo – ager expectans [Christ is present for us in the Father, Christ together with the Father gives us the Holy Spirit – Man – an expectant field].
Rosary (III); Petitionary prayer
Reading various texts: the Letter of the Bishops’ Conference for 26 August; Information on the Holy Year: Reconciliation.2
Inde post Viam Crucis, in qua mysterium Cordis Xti praecipue contemplabatur, fit [Then, the Way of the Cross, in which the mystery of Christ’s Heart was contemplated, was followed by]:
Evening meditation: Retreats grow out of the entire network of problems and tasks of the universal Church and the Polish Church. Retreats also have to be somehow rooted in these matters. They cannot lead away from the episcopal mission, but have to lead ever deeper into it. Among those tasks the one that has priority in our region is Catholic upbringing. Due to the present threats, one needs a stronger affirmation (statement). This affirmation takes shape in both the Holy Year’s theme, ‘Reconciliatio’ [‘Reconciliation’], announced by Pope Paul VI, and even more in the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the theme of ‘Evangelisatio’ [‘Evangelisation’]. These topics mutually explain and direct each other. A plan outlining them for the Church in Poland and in the Archdiocese needs to be prepared.
This matter has to be connected with the general issue of Catholic culture in Poland, especially the contribution of Catholic scholarship (and church scholarship: theology) to Polish scholarship (the feast day of St John Cantius: 500th anniversary of his death).
Rosary (I)
(Reading a chapter from the book): Maryja nasz wzór [Mary: Our Role Model] by Fr F. Ziebura3
Supper, followed by: Matins for the Feast of St Lawrence
Holy Hour: contemplatio Xti in Monte Oliveti sec. misteria ros. cor. II: ubi veritas iustificationis invenitur sub diversis aspectibus [contemplation of Christ on the Mount of Olives according to the Sorrowful Mysteries: where the truth of justification is revealed in diverse ways]
Compline
Finally, reading the article: ‘Sumienie a autorytet’ [Conscience and Authority] by Fr Dr S. Rosik (Studia theol. varsav.)4
10 August: Feast of St Lawrence, deacon and martyr
Getting up about 6.00 a.m. and first prayers according to the morning intention; (Short) meditation before the Holy Mass on the readings on St Lawrence from the breviary and preparation for the Mass; Holy Mass for the Feast of St Lawrence (ad peccata remittenda et conversionem semper pleniorem obtinendam infra haec exercitia [for the forgiveness of sins and for an experience of an ever-fuller conversion during this retreat]); Afterwards: thanksgiving; Lauds; Rosary (I) (petitionary prayers); Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Reading: ‘Die Mitte der Botschaft. Jesu Tod und Auferstehung’ [The Centre of the Good News: Jesus’ Death and Resurrection] by Jacques Guillet in ephem. [in the journal] Communio (Inter. Theol. Zeitschrift).5
Meditation: De mysterio Patris [On the mystery of the Father]: (cf. Mystère du Père [The mystery of the Father] by Fr Guillou read over the holiday).6 The analogy of fatherhood/father that is given to us in the created world is simultaneously rich and multidimensional, and limited and disproportionate in relation to the reality of the ‘Father’ in God. God to some extent identifies with the Father, but at the same time He exceeds everything that we can conceive of ‘fatherhood’ in created reality, especially in human reality. The father is the one who gives life, who passes on humanity and allows it to develop, the one who is the point of reference for the child, the equivalent of the certainty of existence and goodness.
And yet Jesus did not hesitate to speak of God as the ‘Father’
Father–God is essentially impermeable in terms of the world and creation. He is the mystery that lies beyond everything and that determines everything. This mystery is illuminated in relation to one point of reference: This point of reference is Christ – ‘no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him’.7 Thanks to Christ, we also ‘know’ the Father to some extent and have access to Him. In Christ’s consciousness, as well as in His mission and words, the Father completely overshadows the ‘Absolute’, even though at the same time He in a sense absorbs it. The Father is also the Creator and the Lord (‘I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that …’).8 He is the fullness of existence and goodness, the beginning, the ultimate support, the certainty and fulfilment of all fulfilments. If man can think of Him in any meaningful way, it can be only on the condition that, following Christ, he accepts the truth about love. The Father is the fullness of being, truth and good, who in His own special way accepts the world – from the very reality of creation, the giving of life, to the human being, whom He creates ‘in His image, after His likeness’ to let him partake in His own divinity.9 In all this, He is constantly – being at the very heart of the created world, especially the human being – beyond the reach of our created imagination and thoughts. Yet at the same time
He is the only anchor of certainty and the condition of the development of everything, especially the human being (cf. upbringing). Outside ‘the mystery of the Father’ there is no evolution of man in truth and love (cf. Guillou’s thesis).
The Way of the Cross (Friday) which develops the contemplation of the Passion of Christ: He is constantly turned towards the Father and the basis of this relationship informs the diverse ways in which He relates to different people and groups He meets on His way.
Daytime prayers; After lunch – a break; Reading; Rosary (II); Rosary ad Vulnera Redemptoris [to the Wounds of the Redeemer]; Adoration in the spirit of Christ’s final words; Vespers
Reading the decree of the Synod of Bishops: ‘De evangelizatione in mundo hodierno’ [On Evangelisation in the Contemporary World]
Evening meditation: Super munera mea episcopalia [On my episcopal tasks]. This is a continuation of yesterday’s afternoon meditation. There is a need for undertaking tasks and putting them in order, to organise them according to their merit. Each of these tasks includes many smaller tasks, more detailed and specific (e.g. the attitude to brother priests, to laypeople, to individual departments of the Curia, TP, etc.). The bishop’s work has to be concrete, pastoral; it cannot remain only general, theoretical (unproductive talk, even though one undoubtedly needs councils, conferences and meetings).
Above all, the entire style of episcopal activity has to be governed by the following premises:
1. ‘My Father is working still, and I am working’ ( ).10
2. ‘Apart from me you can do nothing’ (Christ).11
3. ‘Do whatever he tells you’ (Mary).12
It is about allowing God–Father, Christ the Lord and His Mother to work through me at all times. Hence the entire activity of the bishop is contained in prayer and devotion (sacrifice).
Rosary (III); (Beginning to write the Declaration on Christian education); Finally:
Concluding meditation intra devotionem Eucharist. [during the Eucharistic service]: Rosary, litanies etc. This meditation, on the one hand, brought together the fruits of yesterday’s reflections, and, on the other hand, expanded on the Marian theme. The Mother of God remains in a special relationship to the ‘mystery of the Father’. She receives into Herself His participation in the world, in the human being – grace, to the fullest among all created beings. Hence the first words spoken to Mary: ‘full of grace’.13 She also adds to this participation, to grace, a human shape. In this mission of Hers, She constantly becomes and still is the Mother of the Church. But a reflection on these mysteries has to be preceded by a meditation on the Son of God according to the words ‘He who has seen me has seen the Father’ (J).14
Reading the Holy Scripture (2 Chronicles); Anticipated Matins (Saturday office of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
Reading the Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops
Praying the penitential psalms in accordance with the intention for the day, which was a penitential day (cf. Holy Mass); Compline
Until now: reading the journal Nasza Przeszłość [Our Past], ‘Wspomnienie o kard. A. Sapieże’ [Remembering Cardinal A. Sapieha] by P. Żółtowski
11 August
Saturday office of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Getting up at about 6.00 a.m. and first prayers in accordance with the intention for the day
Shorter meditation on the readings from the breviary before the Holy Mass (from Prophet Malachi: The day of the Lord – and from Lumen gentium VIII: Mary as the figure of the Church)
Then follows the Holy Mass (offered for my brothers and sons in episcopacy and in priesthood, and also for those who resigned from priesthood); Afterwards: thanksgiving (a thanksgiving prayer for the Father General of the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit during the Holy Mass); and Lauds
After breakfast: Rosary (I); Petitions and prayers to the Holy Spirit; Then, writing the Declaration on Christian education (cont.). After some time:
Morning meditation (longer): De mysterio Filii [On the mystery of the Son]: The Lord Jesus said, ‘he who has seen me has seen the Father’, and at another time, ‘I and the Father are one’.15 These words are the main theme of the meditation. The Son is, so to speak, the ‘visibility’ of the Father; the Son is not only the Father’s invisible image, which is the consubstantial Word, but also His ‘visualisation’ in the history of humankind, which He enters by becoming Man. God–Man: The God of history simultaneously circumscribes the entire history of salvation and centres it around Himself. In this utmost closeness – to man, to humankind, to history – Jesus–Son-of-God acts, above all, as consubstantial with the Father (Consubstantialis). At the same time, He prepares the ground for further such work in the Church. This divine action coming from His Person enters deeply into human history from Bethlehem to Calvary. Above all, it enters into the event of the cross, the atoning sacrifice, which has a redeeming power.
The entire canvas of human history, life and death, does not overshadow Son–God. This meditation powerfully revealed to me His reality, in which the Father became (and is still becoming) particularly visible. The mystery of the Son–Word’s birth is unfathomable. The analogy of human birth ‘through the body’ fails here. The Son is eternally consubstantial – and, as the Son, is eternally being born by the Father. There is no dependence here, the birth is an expression of the Son’s consubstantiality with the Father – as well as with the Holy Spirit in the unity of the Godhead.
The Way of the Cross: new thoughts, new associations with the words of the Holy Scripture – based on the previous meditations
Reading at lunch: Maria nasz wzór [Mary: Our Role Model], and in particular ‘Zbiór dokumentów katedry i diecezji krakowskiej’ [Collected Documents on the Cathedral and Diocese of Kraków] (St. Kuraś)16
Daytime prayer (Terce)
At around 3.00 p.m., reading in the chapel: ‘Die Christuserfahrung des Ignatius von Loyola’ [Ignatius Loyola’s Experience of Christ] by Robert Stalder (journal Communio)17
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; Rosary (II); Daytime prayers (Sext, None)
Then reading a passage from the ‘Declaration in defence of the Catholic doctrine of the Church against certain errors of the present day’ by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Mysterium Ecclesiae [The mystery of the Church])
Meditatio postmeridiana circa aliquos aspectus personales (uti adhuc: methodus procedendi in oratione fundetur). Praecipue commendantur [illegible] successivi cum sacerdotibus [Afternoon meditation about certain personal questions (like previously: let the method of proceeding be based on prayer). Particularly advisable are […] with priests] (!)
Rosary (III); First Vespers for Sunday
Evening meditation: Recapitulatio diei totius [Summing up the whole day]: mysterium [mystery] of the Son, the ‘visibility’ of God, His ‘historicity’ is connected to the Mother, Mary, in a special way. She is the first one, in a way, to determine this visibility and historicity. And this is why our entire relation with the visible God, with the Son – and through Him with the invisible Father – takes place through Mary. In any case, the relation cannot exclude Her, and it is well known that it is thanks to Her that this relation is the most complete and most potent.
At the same time, one thought kept returning to me in the meditation: how Mary, experiencing God’s ‘visibility’ and ‘historicity’ every day in Her Son–Man, simultaneously had to experience His divine transcendence. Amazing and unfathomable life.
(Meditation throughout the Eucharistic service and Rosary); Anticipated Matins for Sunday
Reading the ‘Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops’
Litany of the Saints and others; Compline
Finally, reading the book Polacy w Australii [i Oceanii] 1790–1940 by L. Paszkowski (in the context of my recent participation in the Eucharistic Congress in Melbourne)18
12 August
Getting up at 6.00 a.m.; Intention; Daily prayers; Lauds in the chapel
Meditation before Holy Mass, with the preparation of the Liturgy of the Word and the homily, was from the beginning directed at the mystery of the Holy Spirit
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; 8.00 a.m., Holy Mass with a congregation, homily; Reading from the Divine Office
Meditation (longer): De mysterio SS-mi Spiritus [On the mystery of the Holy Spirit]: ‘God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthy’ (J).19 Our conception of God’s spirituality is based on our meagre experiences of our own human spirituality. The ‘purely’ spiritual and ‘purely’ personal reality at the same time. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are the Spirit. ‘The Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.’20 We know that He is holy and that He is a Person, like the Father and the Son. We know that He ‘proceeds’ from the Father and the Son as love. God is love. The Holy Spirit is the love of the Father and the Son. He is ‘holy’ because holiness consists in love. His ‘proceeding’ from the Father and the Son is simultaneously His being in unity with the Father and the Son and – in a way – constituting that unity (communio). Beyond this, however, the mutual givenness of the Son with the Father and the Father with the Son in the Holy Spirit – and the mutual ‘breathing’ of the Spirit – is an absolute mystery of faith. The Holy Spirit is the ‘hidden God’ (Deus absconditus). If He is an inner gift with whom the Father and the Son are united, then He was revealed to people as, above all, the Gift. He was revealed by Christ, who described His passion and death as the price of that Gift for man: ‘for if I do not go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you’ (J).21
Here we already pass from ‘Trinitas theologica’ [‘theological Trinity’] to ‘Trinitas oeconomica’ [‘economic Trinity’]: the Persons’ actions in the work of human salvation. The Holy Spirit – for the price of the Son’s passion and death – becomes the gift for souls: ‘He will guide you into all the truth’, ‘God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us’: the Holy Spirit is the source of human holiness, and holiness consists in truth and love.22 They express the very essence of ‘spirituality’ and holiness, also on the human level. In a sense, revelation tells us more about the Holy Spirit in the ‘economic’ than in the ‘theological’ order. But He is also ‘Deus absconditus’ [the ‘hidden God’] in the economic order. While the Son–Christ is God’s ‘visibility’ and ‘historicity’ – the Holy Spirit introduces us back into His ‘invisibility’. And yet the Holy Spirit is, above all, action, He is efficacy and fruitfulness – without entering into our sphere of vision. His work in the soul, which is very efficacious and fundamental indeed, is always the work of the Invisible in the invisible.
Lunch at 1.00 p.m. and thanksgiving at Bachledówka
Reading on the way to Kraków: Holy Scripture (the end of 2 Chronicles); Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops; Fr Wciórka – the end of the book on Teilhard de Chardin23
