Thought for the Day – 17 June – The Memorial of St Albert Chmielowski (1845-1916)
At the beatification on 22 June 1983, St Pope John Paul II said:
“Brother Albert…reached [the] heights of holiness…by way of love… Adam Chmielowski studied painting and for a number of years engaged in artistic activities before following his vocation, which, after a first attempt in the Society of Jesus, led him to the Third Order Franciscans, from where his Albertine vocation took shape… Brother Albert laid down his life in the service of the very poor and of social outcasts. [He] gave his life completely to Christ. And in Christ [he] discovered the fullness of knowledge, of love and of service….”
Brother Albert confessed: “I look at Jesus in His Eucharist. Could His love have provided anything more beautiful? If He is bread, let us too become bread…let us give ourselves.” Brother Albert did this to the very end, until he died in his “beggars’ refuge” in Krakow in 1916.
On the basis of a new miracle worked by God through the intercession of Brother Albert (beatified 22 June 1983), St Pope John Paul II canonised him only six years later, on 12 November 1989, to the joy of the Polish people and for the consolation of all homeless people, for whom this Polish saint can be a powerful intercessor, just as he was a generous helper to them while on earth.
AnaStpaul 