Polish Saints and Pilgrimages with Fr. Josh Johnson

Jeff Cavins and Fr. Josh Johnson are in Poland! From Auschwitz to Pope St. John Paul II’s house, they discuss the places they have seen in connection with great Polish saints like St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Faustina, as well as some amazing glory stories that reveal the mercy, truth, and suffering of these saints.

Snippet from the Show
“Blessed Jerzy, St. John Paul II, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Faustina, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, they were all witnesses, not only of mercy and truth, but of suffering.”

SHOWNOTES

St. John Paul II

• Suffered and had the capacity to hate, but chose to love instead. He forgave the man who shot him.
• Influence of the domestic church: His father set an example of holiness by praying, self-sacrifice, and keeping close to the sacraments.
• Inscribed on the wall of his home: “Time flies, eternity waits.”

St. Maximilian Kolbe

• Called out evil where he saw it, stood up on behalf of those being persecuted
• Last words of St. Kolbe to his brothers before being taken to Auschwitz: “Forget not love”
• Took the place of a man condemned to death. While he was being starved to death, he was praising God.
• John 15:13 - “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

St. Faustina

• Example of how to the saints can intercede for us. St. Faustina appeared to a priest and asked him to pray with a man who was convinced he couldn’t be forgiven for causing the death of several people. The priest was able to forgive this man because it was the priest's family who had been killed.

Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko

• Always went out to be with the community
• Persecuted in communist Poland, and brutally martyred.

RESOURCES

• Romans: The Gospel of Salvation