Calling

24.10.2024

Today I meditated in the church The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Sands (Carmelites) in Kraków. At the far end of the right nave, there is a side altar where adoration takes place. I went there because I felt drawn to spend time with God, and for many days, a question had been swirling in my mind about what activity should take priority in my life for the near future. The answer to this question had eluded me for a long time. There had been many hints, all pointing in one direction, but there was no peace in acknowledging what was being shown to me. I knelt down and, without any passage from the Bible, envisioned Christ and was about to address Him with a request when I paused and decided: “Let it be as He wishes, and if there is something in His will that I need to hear, I am ready to listen.”

The image came very quickly.
First, I saw myself sitting on a sandy path, seeing nothing but a patch of ground beneath me. Then I stood up, began to walk, and saw more – how paths of other people joined mine, and for a while, we walked together. Then the picture expanded greatly, and I saw how the paths of many people intertwined and separated again, forming a vast network of connections. Then, in this enormous network, the face of Christ began to emerge, as if made up of countless roads. 

A beautiful image. It was familiar to me; I had seen a similar Face composed of many miniatures from people's lives in another prayer. But at that moment of meditation, I felt as though something was not quite right. This was not what He wanted to show me now. “Alright, I am listening to You carefully,” I thought.

And then I saw myself in an eastern white robe, standing on sand in the desert. Around me was a very thick fog, so dense that I could see nothing beyond my hand. Before me, through the fog, I saw His hand, took it, and we began to walk. For a while, I walked without asking questions. Then we rose into the air, and in this dense fog, we began to fly somewhere. Gradually, the fog beneath us cleared, and below I saw a smooth expanse of water. It was neither a lake nor a river; most likely, we were flying over a sea or an ocean. The longer we flew, the less dense the fog became. After a while, I discerned a small rocky island in the distance, to which we were rapidly approaching.

– Are You taking me there? – I asked.

We circled the island. In the middle of the island, among the rocks, there was a beautiful garden with paths and gazebos, and in the centre of the garden stood a small one-storey house with an attic in Italian style. I had a strong feeling that something was hidden in the middle of the island beneath the rocks, that this garden and modest house were merely a kind of cover, and we were not here for that.

We landed in the garden on a path paved with light sandy-coloured stones and entered the house. Everything here was familiar to me; this was my home, where I once lived. A mix of country and Italian motifs, natural materials, beams on the ceiling, stone on the walls. Jesus did not allow me to look around for long; He immediately approached one of the walls and pressed somewhere, and the wall silently slid aside, revealing a passage before us. To the left, behind the false wall of the room, there was a well-lit stone staircase leading down. Along the entire length of the staircase, illuminated glass sheets with text hung like museum exhibits. They resembled enlarged photos of manuscripts when displayed to the public at an exhibition. My attention was drawn to the first sheet at the very beginning of the staircase. I tried to read what was written there, but the font was entirely unfamiliar to me. 

Jesus immediately entered the passage and began to descend. Not having deciphered the sheet, I went to catch up with Him. At the end of the first long flight, the staircase made a 180-degree turn. At the end of the second flight, on a small landing by the door, Christ stood waiting for me. I stopped right before the door, a shiver ran through me, and I was engulfed by the same feeling one has when they know something very, very important and exciting is about to be revealed, as it was in the meditation with space and time.

– So, do you want to see what is hidden in the middle of the island? – He seemed to ask with a serious look, devoid of the usual humour, and opened the door.

I literally trembled as I stepped into the darkness beyond the door and…
I saw nothing but a large, very dark space resembling a grotto, a stone floor beneath my feet, and quietly lapping water on my right side. Evidently, there was a small dock in the grotto where one could swim from the sea to disembark conveniently on the island. Straight ahead and to my left, the half was sinking into darkness, and I could see neither walls nor boundaries of the grotto. I began to strain my eyes and peer in; for a moment, it seemed to me that I saw several passages in the walls and nothing more.

I had just thought, “What kind of trick is this?))” and was about to address Christ, but He approached me and placed His palm on my back at the solar plexus area. From His hand, light began to flow through me, and I seemed to be inspecting the grotto in the light of a spotlight.

It was large, slightly elongated in length. In the wall behind me was the door we had just exited. On the left wall of the rock, there were indeed passages. The first passage led to a staircase going up. In the rays of His light, I saw through the rock that the staircase led to a corridor with many modest small rooms, resembling hotel rooms, and went somewhere higher. The second passage led to a small chapel in the rock, where benches stood, and candles were lit on the altar. The third led to a library with a reading room, and the fourth – to a dining room. The grotto itself served as a common hall; at its far end were small sofas and tables where one could engage in communal conversations. The third wall opposite me had no doors at all, and the fourth wall on my right side was entirely absent. Instead, it was occupied by the entire length of the dock.

– A retreat house? – I asked joyfully as I turned. – This is what I had so timidly suspected when we were circling the island!

He nodded ahead of Him. All the walls of the grotto were adorned with similar illuminated glass sheets with text, but now in His light, I could read everything. 

These were stories of the transformation of the people I had accompanied, who had finally met the living God and learned to communicate and live with Him! Stories of how beautifully He transformed their lives!

And then, as if on cue, people began to emerge from everywhere! With such a kind and sly expression on their faces, as one has from a well-executed surprise)). As if to say, “Now you know where you are, do you recognise us?))” 

I was in my retreat house). I had accompanied each of them on their journey of meeting the living Christ, knowing them all through sincere and pure contact. It was incredible.

And then the grotto filled with the sounds of joyful conversations and discussions, where people who had once gone through the Exercises together, like old friends, shared amazing stories from their lives and how their calling was unfolding. 

Christ led me to the sofas at the end of the grotto, and we sat at one of the tables. Before me stood a transparent vase, and in it was a bouquet of field cornflowers, daisies, and buttercups that I had gathered during my week-long silent retreat in Nowogródek.

– Why did You put it here? – I asked, turning to Him.

He nodded towards the dock. There stood a girl who had just disembarked from the boat, looking around uncertainly. I nodded, smiled, took the bouquet, and went to greet the “newcomer.”

As I approached, I recognised her… my wife! Divine humour))). I welcomed her, guided her, and showed her everything so that she would feel comfortable and at ease.

The Lord met me below in the grotto.

– Are you ready to fly for new souls? – He asked me.

I remained silent in response – were there any options here?

We ascended the staircase leading past the hotel rooms to a hidden platform among the rocks, where a helicopter stood ready for takeoff. “We are flying in a helicopter, not by ourselves? – I thought. – But then, what does it matter if You are near. I have no idea where we are going, but the pilot clearly knows You, and You will show everything).”

We took our seats, buckled up, and took off.

At this point, my meditation came to an end. Even on the way to the helicopter, I had a persistent desire to write to several people who were ready to join the Exercises, and to one participant who was already engaged. Upon exiting the church, I immediately did so, receiving, as if a confirmation of what I had seen in the meditation, several beautiful coincidences.
It seems that it is indeed so, and at this stage of the journey, this is my priority.