Cardinal Wyszyński about WORK

fot. Instytut Prymasowski Stefana Kardynała Wyszyńskiego

Pearls and Aphorisms of Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński about WORK.

WORK

Rulers and Governing Authorities

101. A man is only fully happy when he can serve, and not when he must rule. Power only impresses small people who want it to make up for their pettiness. A truly great man, even when he rules, is a servant.[i]
102. God must be invited to ministries and factories; every politician must have God in his heart and kneel before Him. For, if he kneels before God, the nations will rejoice, and if he does not kneel, the nations will cry – as the old parable of the Book of Wisdom says. There must be an even higher ruler over the supreme ruler. The only ruler, calm, quiet, not imposing, is God, the Father of all people.[ii]
103. It is not enough to be fair; those who rule must love! We demand love from them because we have the right to it.[iii]
104. …It is necessary to remind all those who govern people and who form the most diverse communities that the most important thing is the human person.[iv]
105. One of the elements of rulership is the recognition of the human right to render social homage to God. People must not be deprived of the possibility to honor God. They must be left with a holy day to rest. It must be remembered that when a man works six days, the seventh day must be kept for rest, for religious, social, moral, and psychological reasons.[v]
106. All levels of the hierarchy of social life are governed by the principle of cooperation with those who serve us. This rule applies above all to the heads of states, whatever they call themselves, whether kings, monarchs, presidents or something else. Their task is to serve and help. However, they also expect cooperation from their citizens. The result of all noble social initiatives and national activities depends to no small degree on ourselves, on our cooperation and assistance.[vi]
107. If everyone cares about appreciation for the family, then it is not necessary to take away the influence of the family on the upbringing of the child but to create conditions that allow the child to stay at home as long as possible.[vii]
108. The state order is not, and never can be, for just one category of people or another, for this party or that. It is for the entire Nation and must take care of all the Nation’s children so that they can freely exercise their proper personal, family, national, and religious rights.[viii]
109. We ask you, Mother, that our homeland may be governed by love and social justice, free from hatred and exploitation. We ask that those who govern us love us, that they respect our humanity, our faith, conscience, and spiritual freedom, our work, sacrifice, and effort. Make them believe that a nation can be ruled above all by love, and that respect for authority is won not by threats, coercion, and force, but by love and respect for the citizens.[ix]
110. The position of service is a social imperative. Although we do not like the word “service” today, we know that people serve us at every step. We are served by parents, priests, educators, and teachers; we are served by officials, managers of the different departments of economic and public life; we are served on the buses, the trains, on the road, in the shops – everywhere. Our dependence on people requires us to be fair to them. If they serve us, we must serve them. They call themselves our servants, including ministers, because “minister” in Latin means “servant.”[x]

Teachers and Educators

111. A great (…) educational effort is aimed at ensuring that only this be said about each of those we educate: This is a man! It should be said: yet, he is a person, he is formed into a real man, he works and acts like a man, he is animated by human disposition and aware of his humanity in everything. That is no much, but it is also a lot! For the social good, only one thing would be enough: for every rational being (…) to deserve the title: This is a man.[xi]
112. Although your life may end from exhaustion, nevertheless you will not cease existing. Non omnis moriar. You will remain in those you educated. You will continue to live in them with the content of your soul, with all your knowledge, experience, and wisdom. Never say: I have failed with this disciple. In his life, there will always be something honest and good coming from you. It will be a continuation of your life in those you have educated.[xii]
113. The reliability of professors and educators is a condition for gaining the trust of young people. Students who study seek both the truth and formal rights to life, but most of all they are looking for … man.[xiii]
114. Elementary school, high school, or whatever – win young people with love and heart! You will see that you will achieve more than those who have forgotten this truth.[xiv]
115. Christian education will always be education to rationality, freedom, love, and social conduct.[xv]
116. We elderly people – I’m talking about myself – remember the times when we were able to distinguish between our educators and professors. We knew which of them was a bureaucrat, a professional, working for a salary, and which was a teacher who was truthful and courageous. We remember them to this day. They shaped us. It is to these people, who had a believing attitude and were in the truth, that we owe everything.[xvi]
117. Much is written about unwanted, lonely, abandoned, and exploited youth. Now, why is contemporary youth like that? Why is are so many abandoned, and sometimes downright rebellious? Because they are forced to have views that they do not want to accept, if only because they are imposed on them by violence. We know that views and beliefs cannot be imposed by force, and that faith, love, and truth cannot be taken away by force.[xvii]
118. If cigarette smoke can harm a child developing in his mother’s womb, how harmful must be all the “smoke” of artificial programs, this miasm of atheization and secularization? It is a “production” inconsistent with all the requirements of modern pedagogy and psychology because it transforms the teacher into a beater, a janitor, and a policeman. Yet, he must remember that the words that Mary heard from the Angle and apply them to himself as well: The child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. What is born in the children entrusted to you – to your work, effort, experience, skills, and educational wisdom – is sacred, because education is a sacred process.[xviii]
119. Sometimes we suspect that our young people are sad and passive without reason. But I ask: can young people who are systematically deprived of Christian morality and the awareness that there is God on earth, that there are duties for which a man will answer not before the militia, but before God, can such young people be cheerful, joyful, trusting? How can they not be sad?[xix]
120. Our way of approaching young people must be as positive as possible. They are disappointed, confused, without programs, sometimes strange on the outside, but internally seeking. Young people are disappointed because they find themselves at a turning point in history, where great currents of thought, ideology, political systems, and political forces are struggling, sometimes completely devalued, exhausted, and, due to internal anemia, unable to continue.[xx]
121. You do not have to adapt to the image and likeness of young people to reach them and find a common language with them. You just have to remember that these are people who are satisfied with little: a little heart, attention, interest, understanding.[xxi]
122. Young people need to be shown a clear direction. They cannot be abused with lots of arguments and extensive discussions. They must be given clear, simple, concise rules of life and conduct. Otherwise, everything will collapse. We will come to the tragedies that young people are witnessing today. This does not incline them to seek solutions. Contrary. it often leads to mental deflation and self-doubt. And when the psychological tension has exhausted them, the young people disappear, they leave.[xxii]

Creators of Culture

123. When you sit down at the editorial desk, dip your pen in the sun of your soul and write with the sun’s rays![xxiii]
124. When you are in the library and handing a book to someone, look carefully into your soul and eyes so that you know what to give. Not everyone is given the same dose of medicine because what helps one can harm another.[xxiv]
125. The truth is always crucified, and the truth that is preached must pay rather than be paid.[xxv]
126. Interestingly enough, people often no longer believe the written word, but they believe the living word. For, a living word is spoken not only with the mouth but with lively eyes. The eyes help to understand the word and the intention contained in the word: I believe what you say if I see it in your gaze…[xxvi]
127. Great is the power of a kind, a well-wishing word full of content, from which one can sense respect for man, hope, and trust that a common language will nevertheless be found.[xxvii]
128. The word exists to impart love. It is a tool of love, it is an extremely modest ladle, with the help of which, when delving into the essence of God, we extract something from His content so that we may give it to people.[xxviii]
129. The word is always too narrow, like the shell from which the fruit is extracted for a new life. How difficult it is with the help of words to convey the full depth of content! If a person’s soul is full of such content, his service to the national culture is truly blessed and nourishing![xxix]
130. In his vocabulary, a man uses words that are a photograph of his interior.[xxx]
131. A writer should feel more strongly the call to be a man than a professional writer.[xxxi]
132. When serving on a stage, in a theater, and even in the dark sounds printed in the press, let your voice resound so that people can hear God’s voice in it.[xxxii]

Doctors and Medical Students

133. When you lean over your neighbor, when you explore the mysteries of the human body, let this study reveal to you the wisdom of the Creator of man and His divine power, His love in every hair of the head, in every part that the Heavenly Father keeps. Learn to respect man from his Creator.[xxxiii]
134. In order to help a human being, one has to be a human being. You can’t just be a professional, commercial, economist, or blood and medicine trader. You have to be, first and foremost, human. One must realize and respect one’s own humanity, one must understand it and serve it with dignity.[xxxiv]
135. A man’s name is to know the world. To have a worldview means understanding the sense of the world. Therefore, approaching a person requires universal knowledge and faith, that is universal wisdom. You have to look at him with eyes wide open to see everything in him: soul and body, natural, physical, and spiritual values. This will not be done with a surgical knife alone. What is needed here is a great synthesis of reason and faith, some noble emulation of both. What reason fails to do, faith will add.[xxxv]
136. Think about how much hope people associate with your vocation. Your mere presence with the sick improves their well-being because it is associated with faith and trust.[xxxvi]
137. Do everything out of love. One act of love for your neighbor enriches your family, national, and public life; it also enriches your noble medical vocation.[xxxvii]
138. The doctor hears the bell in the depths of his office. Has someone sick come? To whom? For work? No! A person has come, hoping to meet a person. The doctor comes out. – A patient? – No, ecce homo! – a person. The patient looks at the doctor. – A doctor? No, ecce homo! A person has come to a person. May the person come out in peace, as a respected, honored, served, beloved person, God’s person.[xxxviii]
139. Go to your sick. Recognize that these are God’s children, not just patients. A patient does not cease being human. He is a suffering, tormented, sick man who needs your help and a heart that trusts you. When you come to him, his eyes smile and he says: “Doctor, I’ve been waiting for you to come.” And even if you stand helpless at his bedside, with your hands down, you must show him your heart. This is the Christian humanism of your work and ministry.[xxxix]
140. Do not kill, because you have received life and you are defending your life. The more attached you are to life, the greater should be, in your eyes, the price of the lives of those who also want to live, even if they were not born yet.[xl]

Nurses

141. Together with the Sorrowful Mother, standing under her Son’s cross, stand under the cross of every suffering person.[xli]
142. Nursing is not a profession; it is a vocation. Consider your work as an extremely honorable calling. Almost all people going from this earth to the Father pass through your hands.[xlii]
143. Remember that you are very often a bridge from this earth to heaven. Maybe your smile, your hands, and your words about God will be the last memory that someone will take from this earth to the heavenly homeland? And you know that these are the people with whom we will finally meet in God’s joy. Certainly, someday in heaven, the people you have served here on earth will kiss your hands gratefully.[xliii]
144. Christmas is especially your holiday – the holiday of health care, because looking at the crib in Bethlehem, one comes close to every person, especially to the neediest, small, sick, and suffering.[xliv]

Scientists

145. …People of science are never in a hurry to say anything because they feel responsible for the spoken and written word.[xlv]
146. We know that there are limits to knowledge, that the human mind cannot go too far. We can try to explain for the second or the hundredth time this or that theological truth, the truth of faith, but finally, the moment will come when we only say: I believe, Lord! Deepen my faith! Even the most eminent university professors experience this, although they may not be dealing with theological truths.[xlvi]
147. Our time is the intellectual epoch, the age of intellectuals, of educated people. Higher education is increasingly accessible to people. Unfortunately, it is not connected with the appropriate conditions that would enable the activation of one’s intellect. There are more scientific technicians than true scientists. Many people gain knowledge, but not many are wise. For, not every academic diploma guarantees wisdom.[xlvii]

Lawyers

148. …One must speak of the spirit of the application of laws. Knowing them is not enough! The highest wisdom does not yet reside in knowing the law, but rather in the ability to apply it. Not in the sense of circumventing the law, but in order to properly apply, in specific conditions, the degree that is necessary in the given circumstances, which are, after all, changing.[xlviii]
149. The best law, the most reasonable, just, and necessary for the good of humanity in general, can torment a person if there is no love.[xlix]
150. For, the law, beloved children, is for the unrighteous, not for the righteous. It exists to show the unjust boundary between “yours and mine.” But where there is justice and love, the law withers and dies. It is powerless because it is unnecessary. Therefore, there will be a time when the laws will cease and only Love will remain.[l]
151. There where the principle of struggle has not yielded any fruit so far, let it be replaced by the principle of love that can save the fighters and the fought.[li]
152. Human law can never be contrary to God’s law. If it were opposed to it, it would not apply in conscience, and hence cease to be a law, even if it was passed by all the world’s parliaments. It is not a law when it is contrary to God’s law, the law of nature, the law of humanity – the law of God’s children, and especially Christ’s law of love for God and people.[lii]

Architects

153. Architects and engineers must not build cages for chickens, but family nests.[liii]
154. The most beautiful temples or ordinary, simple sacred buildings must help people to find God. The temples of Christ’s Church have always had this intentional character. We know that sometimes, like French cathedrals, they were the basis of catechesis, the Biblia pauperum for the people of our time. Wherever the living word did not reach, where no one preached the Gospel, there was still a sacred building which, with its entire structure and interior decoration, vividly spoke to people, instructed them, and reminded them of God’s truths.[liv]
155. Mere ideas of designers, some abstract ideas or another, are not enough. It is necessary to enter into the desires and longings of modern man, to understand his passion and hunger. You have to work not in space, but for a specific recipient, to satisfy his soul’s hunger. Then it is possible to create God’s dwelling with people.[lv]

Soldiers

156. It may sometimes seem to you that the soldier’s task is to exercise justice in the name of the Fatherland and defend it, that your position as a soldier is only on the verge of justice and peace. This is undoubtedly your task. But remember that you are to fulfill this task with love because it is impossible to do it without love. One must have great love to defend justice and bring the longed-for peace.[lvi]
157. Love, though hard and strong as death, has the characteristic of being born in our hearts. And that is why you, dear soldiers, are called to perform a difficult task, with the readiness to sacrifice yourselves like Christ on the Cross; so, you must first let your hearts be opened, just as the God-man did. For, you need love to fulfill your task; it cannot be accomplished with a closed heart. You must keep your hearts open.[lvii]
158. If you want to be truly obedient, as your leadership demands, you must have great faith. There is no obedience without faith. And you have no better or stronger foundation for the faith from which obedience is born, than the will of God and God Himself. Our Heavenly Father set an example for humankind in Jesus Christ, who was obedient to his Father until death on the cross. The motherland requires you to obey those who, on its behalf, give orders as hard as a spearhead and give them with a sublime sense of love for the Fatherland.[lviii]

Drivers

159. When you sit in the car, put your hand to the steering wheel and pass by people who get nervous walking on foot; recognize them as your brothers, and remember that you are serving Christ Himself.[lix]

 

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[i] Mary’s First Slave. Matka, 53.

[ii] Sermon in Laski, 20 August 1944. Typescript.

[iii] About Peace on Earth. After the publication of the Encyclical Pacem in terris. On the eve of John XXIII’s death. Białystok, cathedral, 2 May 1963. Goes, 72.

[iv] Love In Word and Deed. Warsaw, parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, 20 February 1966. KP 22, 441.

[v] Turning Power Into Service. Warsaw, Saint John’s Cathedral Basilica, 6 January 1971. Ibid., 22.

[vi] Let Us Help Mary, Mother of the Church. Jasna Góra, 26 August 1971. Goes, 320.

[vii] Let’s Focus on the Family. Gniezno, Primate’s basilica, 6 February 1973, Primate of Poland, 62.

[viii] In Defense of God’s Law in the Life of the Individual, the Family, and the Nation. Krakow, Skałka, 13 May 1973. KP 43, 58. Prymat, 98.

[ix] Manifesto of the Jubilee of Reconciliation from Jasna Góra. Jasna Góra, 3 May 1974. KP 46, 19; Głos, 360.

[x] Beginning of the visitation of the copy of the Image of Our Lady of Jasna Góra, Drohiczyn, 2 June 1974. KP 46, 157.

[xi] What the Primate Told You … Jasna Góra, 4 July 1966. Ibid., 219-220.

[xii] Ibid.

[xiii] Inauguration of the academic year at the Catholic University of Lublin, 23 October 1966. Ibid., 312.

[xiv] An Expedition to the Young – With the Heart. Warsaw, seminary church, 30 March 1968. Ida, 288.

[xv] Ibid.

[xvi] Ibid., 104.

[xvii] The Eternal Actuality of the Saint. Warsaw, Church of St. Clement, 30 September 1970. Ibid., 128.

[xviii] The Bishop of Warsaw – to Educators of Warsaw’s Children. Warsaw, seminary church, 18 March 1972. Ibid., 176-177.

[xix] Christmas Message of the Primate of Poland. Warsaw, Cathedral Basilica of Saint John, 25 December 1972. Ibid., 375-376.

[xx] What Does Modern Youth Need? Warsaw, Archbishop’s House, 9 April 1969. KP 31, 143.

[xxi] Ibid., 145.

[xxii] “Nova et Vetera” in Poland’s Tragic Situation. Warsaw, seminary, 28 December 1970. Ibid., 384.

[xxiii] Write with Words Alone. Jasna Góra, 4 May 1958. Głos, 85.

[xxiv] Ibid.

[xxv] The Price of the Word of Truth. Poznan, Saint Martin’s Church, 23 April 1970. From considerations, 132.

[xxvi] Tell the Truth to One Another, Be Brothers … Crusade of the Good Word. Piekary Śląskie, 31 May 1970. Novelties Are Coming, 247.

[xxvii] Be Teachers of the Truth. Warsaw, 27 March 1971. KP 36, 163.

[xxviii] The Honorable Service of the Word. Warsaw, the Primate’s house, 8 October 1976. KP 55, 197. Z rozważań, 237; Idźcie, 175.

[xxix] Ibid. KP 55, 198; Z rozważań, 238; Idźcie, 176.

[xxx] The Word – A Bridge of Truth and Love. Warsaw, St. Anne’s Church, 15 March 1980. KP 64, 108-109; Idźcie, 186.

[xxxi] Ibid. KP 64, 112; Idźcie, 188.

[xxxii] God’s voice in the Voice of Man. Warsaw, St. Anne’s Church, 30 April 1979, KP 62, 179.

[xxxiii] Exhortation To Young People for the New School Year, Warsaw, 1 October 1951. Listy, 213.

[xxxiv] In the Footsteps of Christ – the Doctor. Warsaw, St. Anne’s Church, 7 June 1959. Uświęcenie, 183.

[xxxv] That You May Be Brave and Steadfast. Warsaw, the Church of the Nuns of the Visistation, 3 April 1960. Uświęcenie, 196.

[xxxvi] To the Capital’s Doctors during the wafer meeting. Warsaw, Primate’s house, 30 December 1964. KP 18, 495.

[xxxvii] Healthcare in a Service of Love. Warsaw, Church of the Sisters of the Visitation, March 1968. Goes, 278.

[xxxviii] Let Us Save Our Humanity. Warsaw, Church of the Nuns of the Visistation, 23 March 1969. KP 31, 122.

[xxxix] Go in Peace … Warsaw, Church of the Nuns of the Visistation, 28 March 1971. KP 36, 174.

[xl] Ibid., 174-175.

[xli] From the Slavery of the Suffering and the Sick – into the Sweet Slavery of the Holy Mother. Jasna Góra, 7 June 1964. KP 17, 377.

[xlii] The Council’s Message to Women. 24 January 1966. KP 22, 218; Idzie, 282.

[xliii] Ibid.

[xliv] Service to Children Loved by God the Father. Warsaw, Primate’s house, 28 December 1976. Ibid., 203.

[xlv] Magistri in Israel doceant nos! … Warsaw, ATK, 14 September 1967. Ibid., 250.

[xlvi] The Catholic University in Polish Society Warsaw, Cathedral Basilica of Saint John, 18 April 1971. KP 36, 279; Z rozważań, 170.

[xlvii] I Encourage You to Be Holy. Warsaw, the academic church of Saint Anna, 25 September 1971. KP 38, 116.

[xlviii] Love, Law and Peace. Warsaw, Primate’s house, 26 June 1962, KP 11, 217.

[xlix] Ibid.

[l] Ibid., 219.

[li] The Church’s Medicine for the World. Jasna Góra, 27 August 1967. KP 27, 194.

[lii] In Defense of God’s Law in the Life of the Individual, the Family, and the Nation. Krakow, the church of the Pauline Fathers on Skałka, 13 May 1973. KP 43, 53.

[liii] The Nation’s Raison d’être for the Millennium – Life! Warsaw, Infant Jesus parish, 27 December 1959. Primate of Poland, 66.

[liv] Man’s Refuge is in God’s House. Warsaw, chapel in the Primate’s house, 10 May 1977. KP 57, 251.

[lv] Ibid., 255.

[lvi] Message from the Primate of Poland to the Defenders of the Fatherland, Warsaw, garrison church of the Holy Spirit, 14 April 1957. Uświęcenie, 326.

[lvii] Ibid., 327.

[lviii] Ibid., 328.

[lix] Serving Christ in Our Brothers. Warsaw, Cathedral Basilica of Saint John, 8 March 1959. Uświęcenie, 321.