She Was Luckier Than Him

On September 17, 1939, Soviet Union invaded Poland, dividing my country among two powers - Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union. Seventy three years passed and it seems as if it is a dream, a story, a fairytale or rather - a nightmare - that never occurred. Yet it was real, and the outcome of that invasion we inherit till now, when Europe was divided, our country carved and new post-war communist Poland was born. My mother side of family land in Eastern Poland has been lost, now in Ukraine. So many relatives perished under Soviet oppression. My grandfather lieutenant Adam Jakubiec was executed in Katyn forest in April 1940. Here is a remarkable story of a girl luckier than him who survived and now tells her story. Read it here.

Apart From Those Things...

In an hour or so it will be time to go to the other side of the Divine Mercy Hill and celebrate the morning Mass for sisters who are continuing with their annual retreat. The first reading of today's liturgy is an outburst of sincerity of Saint Paul, a big bang of emotions and straightforwardness. I love his frankness and the way he puts things in a passionate way. The last passage of the Second Letter to Corinthians strikes me exceptionally hard: "And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led to sin, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness".