For Their Sake I Consecrate Myself

R籀ża's early years in pre-war Poland were spent in the carefree environment of her family's rural estate. The advent of World War II separated parents and children, but as a talented and independent personality, R籀ża succeeded in facing the difficulties and hardships that life brought her. In the early '40s she was introduced to the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of Tyniec: under their influence the young woman's spiritual life blossomed as she discovered God in nature, friendship, Scripture, and the liturgy. In 1951, after graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts, R籀ża entered the Benedictine Nuns of Perpetual Adoration in Warsaw, becoming Sister Bernadette of the Cross. Those were the most difficult years under the Communist regime for Poland; the monastery was being rebuilt after having been bombed in the war and yet it's spiritual life flourished. As a spiritual daughter of Mother Mectilde de Bar (1614-1698), she grasped fully what it meant to be a sacrificial victim and responded generously to the love of God who remains ever present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

This story of her life, newly translated, is enriched with over sixty photographs and reproductions of her artwork, as well as selections from her letters. Refreshing in their humor and gaiety, challenging in the depth of their insight into human frailty and utter confidence in the love of God, her words have the power to inspire a more intense engagement with the voice of God present in His Word, in the Church's prayer, and in the hardships of everyday life. Speaking of difficulties in prayer, she wrote to a college friend, "Try it! I beg you! I beg you to say something to God every day from the bottom of your heart, even if it's just two words, or merely a glance."

The peaceful deepening of the divine life within her would prepare her for an unexpected sacrifice-her own life at the age of 35 in reparation for the infidelities of priests. "Cut me into strips," were her words, "only let them return to you." Her offering was consummated when what should have been a successful surgery led to her death due to neglect in a Communist hospital. "Both the sick and the doctors cannot get over the fact that a nun can be so cheerful," she wrote two weeks before her death. "I think that the glory of the Bridegroom grows through this, so I don't even care anymore that my stitches hurt from laughing."

This beautiful record of simple and genuine holiness brings light and encouragement to anyone truly seeking God, reminding us that the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, in which those who love more, regardless of their own poverty, can make up for those who love too little or even betray love. "It is enough to look at the Cross to see where that love led Him, or at the Host," she wrote, bearing witness to the Love that conquers death. "He knew that he would be trampled upon, but nevertheless he stayed."