On Sunday, October 22, 2023, fourteen young men began their first year of formation at the Conventual Franciscan postulancy house in Gniezno, Poland. Six of the postulants were from the Province of the Immaculate Mother of God in Poland (Warsaw). Another four were from the Province of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe in Poland (Gdańsk) and the last four were from the Province of St. Anthony and Bl. James of Strepar in Poland (Cracow).
During Mass, the postulancy candidates stated: “We ask to be with you, to discern, with your help, if this is our vocation, to follow our Lord Jesus in the Franciscan family. Teach us to pray and live true conversion; and form us in fraternity with patience and joy.”
The response they heard was: “We gladly welcome you to this house of formation for your time of postulancy, so that you may clearly discern your vocation and experience our fraternal and minorite life in the service of the Church.”
The new postulants were then given a Tau cross and a copy of the Writings of St. Francis and St. Clare from their respective Major Superiors.
During his homily, Friar Mariusz KOZIOŁ, the Vicar Provincial of the Province of Cracow, focused on three words taken from the liturgical readings of the day, namely, gratitude, choice and image. “May you have gratitude within you,” he wished the new postulants. “May you cultivate this attitude in yourself and direct it toward God and Man. May you recognize the choice that the Lord God has made and be ready to confirm it in yourselves and accept it through the decisions of your Superiors. Finally, may you, day by day, become more and more like Jesus Christ, who is our model. May you allow the Lord God to shape you in this image.”
Friar Jan M. SZEWEK
