Our Sister was born on January 12, 1874 in Nowy Wiec, Poland. When she was eighteen years old, Marta entered the Daughters of Charity in Krakow and spent her life serving the sick poor in hospitals in Poland and the Ukraine. On May 30, 1904 she died in Sniatyn, Ukraine and was beatified on May 24, 2008.
From the perspective which our Superior General, Father Tomaž Mavrič, CM has presented with regard to a culture of vocations, I present some insights that are in accord with that point of view.
- From her youth, Marta experienced the Lord’s call. She knocked on the door of the Daughters of Charity in Chelmno but, because of her age, she was not admitted (at that time there were many vocations to that Province). That rejection was not an obstacle and Marta waited until she reached the canonical age and then, the path was opened for her to become a member of the Province of Krakow, a province where she began her short but fruitful vocation as a Daughter of Charity.
Today, there are also many obstacles that can make it difficult to respond to a religious vocation: family opposition, fascination with regard to some lucrative career, difficulty in sacrificing and/or renouncing oneself, worldly pleasures, etc. In the midst of these realities, God’s call is more powerful than the spirit of the world … and God spoke to Marta: Behold, I stand at the door and knock (Revelation 3:20). We, who have heard the call, are part of the Lord’s flock and have the same mission as the Apostle, Andrew: We have found the Messiah (John 1:35) … and therefore, we are to bring other people to Jesus.
- The care that the sick require, community misunderstandings and above all, calumnies … all of these made Marta’s ministry more difficult. Yet in all of those situations she showed that she was filled with the Lord and that she had received a solid formation. She did not consider abandoning her vocation. What an example for the present era! Is it not true that when confronted with difficulties, we often think about looking back at what was left behind (Luke 9:61).
The cross is not a romantic reality, but it is a path laden with roses, with roses that have thorns and so the following of Jesus implies walking along a thorny path. The Lord offers us a reward when we begin the journey, but we are not presented that reward until we have completed the journey.
- Like Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Sister Marta gave her life on behalf of her sisters and brothers so that they might continue to generate new life. Such an offering gives witness to Jesus’ words: No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13).
We have come to the community in order to give all that we are and all that we have to others, especially to those who are poor … we must be tireless in our efforts and must also be mindful of the Lord’s words: Remain faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life (Revelation 2:10).
Prayer
God, you called Sister Marta Anna Wiecka
to the Company of the Daughters of Charity
and you called her to walk in the footsteps of your Son,
the servant of the poor and the infirm.
Faithful to your call
she lived out her Vincentian vocation
and became holy.
God, we glorify you
for all the gifts that you gave to Blessed Marta Wiecka.
Through her intercession reveal the power of your love
and, if it be in accord with your will,
bestow on us the grace that we request.
We pray in the name of Jesus, the Lord.
Amen!
P. Marlio Nasayó, CM
Province of Colombia
Translated:
Charles T. Plock, CM
Eastern Province, USA
