From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   — Proverbs 12:23 —   
      
   A prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself,   
   but the heart of fools blurts out folly.   
   ========================   
   Prudent people have a quiet confidence. Insecure or uncertain people   
   feel the need to prove themselves, but prudent people don't have to   
   prove anything. They know they are capable, so they can get on with   
   their work. Beware of showing off or being a "know-it-all." If you are   
   modest, people may not notice you at first, but they will respect you   
   later.   
      
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   January 26: - Blessed Michaël Kozal, Martyr   
      
   (1883-1943)   
    Blessed Michal Kozal, bishop was minister to those imprisoned, and   
   one of the many Polish martyrs who perished during the 2nd World War.   
   Beatified by Blessed Pope John Paul II, Blessed Michal stood for love   
   and faith in the face of tyranny and persecution.  He earned the   
   martyrs crown via his tireless preaching of the Gospel, even while   
   imprisoned in a concentration camp.   
      
   Born in the small Polish village of Nowy Folwark, Michal was the   
   member of a very large family. Due to their size, the family was quite   
   poor, although managed to get by.  They were sustained on faith,   
   through the example and leadership of John and Marianna, Michal’s   
   devout parents.  While not all the children were sent for education,   
   Michal demonstrated an academic aptitude, serious nature, and fondness   
   of everything sacred, and as such, was sent first to elementary school   
   and then to high school.   
      
   After graduating in 1914, Michal entered the seminary Leonium Poznan,   
   and was ordained in 1918, despite his studies having been disrupted by   
   World War I. He served well in various assignments, moving from town   
   to town in rural Poland, and demonstrating both zeal for the Lord and   
   dedication to the Church.  Simultaneously, Michal continued his   
   theological studies, and was recognized in 1922 via appointment as the   
   Prefect of the Catholic School of Humanities in Bydgoszcz.  He was   
   later named the director and spiritual father of the Major Seminary of   
   Gniezno.  So successful in his tasks, he was appointed the rector of   
   the seminary in 1929, despite the fact that he was the only teacher   
   there who had not yet finished his academic degree.   
      
   Blessed Michal labored for a decade at the seminary, leading his   
   charges by prudent and disciplined example.  In 1939, Pope Pius XII   
   appointed him auxiliary Bishop of Wloclawek, and he was installed in   
   the Cathedral of the city on August 13.  Only two weeks later, Poland   
   was invaded by Nazi troops, and Bishop Kozal found his position   
   required him to allay the fears of his parishioners, bringing comfort   
   in a time of horror and devastation.  The Polish authorities urged the   
   Bishop to leave the city and reside in a safer location, but he felt   
   strongly that his place was with his people, and he remained in   
   Wloclawek to administer the parish and preach the Gospel.   
      
   Only 22 months following his appointment, the German troops took   
   Wloclawek, and systematically began dismantling the Church, as they   
   had in other cities.  Catholic publications were suppressed, buildings   
   belonging to the churches and religious institutions were seized, and   
   the clergy were arrested and detained.  Despite the terror and   
   persecution, Bishop Kozal protested the seizures and arrests   
   zealously, but in vain.  He was ordered to present himself to the   
   Gestapo, who ordered him to deliver his sermons only in German.  He   
   refused, given that the vast majority of his parishioners did not   
   speak German.   
      
   On November 7, 1939, Bishop Kozal was arrested, along with the other   
   priests still remaining in the city, and imprisoned in the city jail.   
   He was placed in solitary confinement, once it became clear that the   
   others were looking to him for leadership, spiritual counsel, and   
   direction.  Shortly thereafter, the Gestapo began torturing him, as an   
   example for the others.   
      
   Three months later, in January 1940, Bishop Kozal was transferred with   
   the remaining priests and seminarians to a more comfortable location.   
   There, kept under house arrest, he began to re-organize the diocese   
   and seminary, to promote the faith and provide hope to those without   
   hope.  Each day, from the small window of his room, he could see the   
   crowds of deportees, and realized that he, too, would suffer that   
   fate.  In that moment, he offered his life to God, for the salvation   
   of the Church, and for the sufferers of Poland.   
      
   Despite the efforts of the Holy See to save them, on April 25, 1941,   
   Bishop Kozal, seven priests, and a deacon were transferred to the   
   concentration camp of Inowroclaw.  The other priests and seminarians   
   had been deported earlier to several other camps, the idea being that   
   they should not all remain together.  Arriving at Inowroclaw, Bishop   
   Kozal’s tortures began anew, with injuries resulting to both his legs   
   and his left ear. Only three weeks later, the group was transferred to   
   Dachau.  Bishop Kozal was given prisoner number 24544, and continued   
   to suffer daily torture.  However, he also continued to preach the   
   Gospel and lift the spirits of the imprisoned, regardless of faith,   
   with all his remaining strength.  Bishop Kozal contracted typhus, and   
   was taken to a medical ward.  It is there that he was given a lethal   
   injection of poison.   
      
   Blessed Bishop Kozal’s body was incinerated at the crematorium at   
   Dachau on January 30, 1941.  A stone memorial at the cathedral of   
   Wloclawek commemorates his martyrdom, as well as that of 220 other   
   priests of the Wloclawek diocese, who died in Dachau.   
      
   Inspired by the life and courageous living of the Gospel demonstrated   
   by Blessed Michal Kozal, today we pray for courage to face the   
   difficulties—both large and small—on our lives.   
   By Jacob   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Those who attend to the regulation of their own consciences are not   
   much given to form rash judgments; far from wasting their reflections   
   in dissecting the actions and intentions of their neighbors, whose   
   conduct may appear cloudy and obscure, they enter into themselves, and   
   use their utmost endeavors to reform and perfect their own lives, like   
   bees which, in misty and cloudy weather, return to their hive to   
   pursue their home labors. Rash judgment produces detraction, which is   
   the bane of conversation. Were detraction banished from the world,   
   numberless other sins would be banished together with it.   
   -- St. Francis de Sales   
      
   Bible Quote:   
    But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they   
   shall render an account for it in the day of judgment. For by thy   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)