My Annual Ritual

Every year around this time I re-read one of my favorite books: He Leadeth Me by Walter Ciszek.  It's the story of a priest who spent twenty three years as a  prisoner in Soviet prisons and labor camps during the cold war. He was actually trained by the Vatican to serve in "Russian missions" but wound up in Poland during World War II. When the Red Army took over Poland Fr. Ciszek  wound up entering the Soviet Union. Disguised as a worker he accompanied Polish refugees with plans to serve as their pastor. Unfortunately, his true identity was discovered and he was arrested for being a "Vatican Spy."  First subjected to five years of Solitary confinement, he was then sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor in Siberia. Once released he lived as a Soviet citizen under constant surveillance until he was freed during a US/Soviet prisoner exchange. During this entire ordeal of starvation, brutal work conditions, and endless harassment (for being a priest) he still managed to maintain his faith in God and secretly provide many people the sacraments. He would often have to say mass in secret in the woods with a guard on watch. Prison officials would place him on the toughest details with the smallest rations simply because he was a priest. But through it all he never lost hope and was a beacon of light to all around him  This guy was a Saint.

So what does this have to do with surviving a cancer diagnosis?

Actually a lot. One of the most powerful messages of this book involves a simple truth: sanctity can be found by simply accepting everything that happens as the will of God. All that happens is ordained for our redemption and we need to accept it.

His will for us was the twenty-four hours of each day: the people, the places, the circumstances he set before us in that time. Those were the things God knew were important to him and to us at that moment, and those were the things upon which he wanted us to act, not out of any abstract principle or out of any subjective desire to "to do the will of God." No, these things, the twenty-four hours of this day, were his will; we had to learn to recognize his will in the reality of the situation and and to act accordingly. We had to learn to look at our lives, at everything that crossed our path each day, with the eyes of God; learning to see his estimate of things, places, and above all people, recognizing that he had a goal and a purpose in bringing us into contact with these things and these people, and striving always to do that will--his will--every hour of every day in the situations he had placed us. (Pg. 38)

There are days that I can't see the point of my life. I'll be dealing with some new medical issue or some really obnoxious person and all I can think is : are you kidding me?  But that's when I need to follow Father Ciszek's advice. It's the Little Flower's 'little way'" on steroids. All suffering has meaning and can lead us closer to God.

What I like about Father's book is the brutal, gritty environment in which he applied this philosophy. He found God in the interrogation room, work brigade, and miserable living conditions. Here's a short video about him: