Saints celebrated on the 5th of May
Prayer to the Angels and the Saints
Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.
In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.
Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.
Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.
BL. GRZEGORZ FRACKOWIAK, RELIGIOUS AND MARTYR
At the age of nineteen, in 1930, Grzegorz Frackowiak, a native of Poland, entered the Society of the Divine Word.
Eight years later, he made his solemn profession as a brother of the congregation. Brother Grzegorz formulated in writing the goal of his life:
“Be holy; desire only this, Jesus.”
"BE HOLY; DESIRE ONLY THIS, JESUS"
He was serving his congregation’s community of Gorna Grupa when in the autumn of 1939, only a year after his solemn profession, the Nazis invaded Poland, and began a persecution of Poland’s Catholics.
In September of 1942, Brother Grzegorz was arrested by the Nazi Gestapo on the accusation of having distributed pro-Polish leaflets.
HE WAS SUBJECTED TO TORTURE
As a prisoner, he was subjected to torture particularly after it was discovered that he had sewn a religious medal inside his cap.
In a letter he wrote shortly before his execution, he asked the recipient to be “a good Catholic”, to forgive him for everything, and to say for him the versicle, “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.” On May 5, 1943, Brother Grzegorz was beheaded in Dresden, Germany, at the age of thirty-one.
“Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,
and in our hearts take up thy rest;
come with thy grace and heav’nly aid
to fill the hearts which thou hast made.”
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