{"id":63,"date":"2008-10-09T10:18:59","date_gmt":"2008-10-09T14:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/corpuschristibuffalo.org\/site\/?p=63"},"modified":"2008-10-09T10:50:17","modified_gmt":"2008-10-09T14:50:17","slug":"welcome-fr-marek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/corpuschristibuffalo.org\/site\/?p=63","title":{"rendered":"Welcome, Fr. Marek!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We are very pleased to introduce to you Fr. Marek Lacki, OSPPE, who arrived on September 12 to join Fr. Anzelm and Bro. Peter in the Monastic Community, and to assist in the Pastoral Ministry at Corpus Christi. He graciously agreed to an interview, so that our web viewers would have the chance to get to know him.<\/p>\n

Soft spoken Fr. Marek, 35, comes from the town of Wrzesnia in central Poland, and from childhood was strongly drawn to the sanctity of Jasna Gora, the Pauline Monastery in Czestochowa. An altar boy from the age of six, he made frequent pilgrimages to Jasna Gora and dreamed of entering, being there \u201cas in my own place.\u201d \u201cFinally, I did!\u201d beams the gentle priest. Fr. Marek joined the Pauline Fathers and Brothers in 1999. Reflecting on the presence of our Lady of Jasna Gora in his life, he smiles, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s her fault, I am who I am. She is my Mom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since entering the Pauline Order, Fr. Marek has spent half of his time abroad, experiencing the Church in many different places. \u201cPeople all over the world have the same problems;\u201d he notes, \u201cwe ourselves are our biggest problem.\u201d Ordained to the Holy Priesthood in 2006, Fr. Marek was assigned for two years to a monastery in Slovakia, serving in a large parish where he was given charge of youth. \u201cIt was a beautiful experience,\u201d he remarks, \u201chelping young people build their relationship with God through a life of prayer. It was a wonderful time and also hard, helping people work through their problems, especially interior ones.\u201d Fr. Marek sees communication as of prime importance in facing the difficulties of our daily life, and points to the need for good listening.<\/p>\n

Who are the people in his life who have made a difference? \u201cSt. Therese of Lisieux,\u201d Father offers without hesitation. Her little way of humble service is a model for him, and it was St. Therese who helped him get to know other saints. St. Teresa of Calcutta is among these; she also did little things with great love. Servant of God Pope John Paul II is another special spiritual friend and guide. Fr. Marek sees the devotion of his parents as a great blessing in his life, giving him good example and helping him to develop a personal relationship with Jesus.<\/p>\n

To the people of our time Fr. Marek says, \u201cTry to live God\u2019s commandments of love. No matter what is going on in our lives, He loves us, He\u2019s waiting for us, relying on us\u2026He needs us. Be open to the touch of Jesus\u2019 love. Open the eyes of mind and heart to the little signs He gives, each detail. Every day when you open your eyes, that is proof of His love! He\u2019s giving you another day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks like we are living in times from the Book of Revelation,\u201d Fr. Marek observes, \u201ca time when we have to finally decide if we are Christians or not. As the Word of God tells us: \u2018I know about your activities: how you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were one or the other, but since you are neither hot nor cold, but only lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth.\u2019 (Rev. 3:15-16) The world needs real witness. If I belong to Christ then I have to live a life of love and hope, mercy and humble service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though he has only been in Buffalo a few weeks, Fr. Marek is very interested in the area and in coming to know its people and their needs. \u201cA place is the people. Our church (here on Clark Street) is pretty empty; God has been \u2018cleaning.\u2019 We\u2019re missing our young people, and the question is: what did their parents do to draw them close, to encourage them to live a good life, to be a good man? Still, even if we are small, we have a mission. We are not many, but we are like the little remnant of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are very pleased to introduce to you Fr. Marek Lacki, OSPPE, who arrived on September 12 to join Fr. Anzelm and Bro. Peter in the Monastic Community, and to assist in the Pastoral Ministry at Corpus Christi. He graciously agreed to an interview, so that our web viewers would have the chance to get … [Read more…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[37],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-admin","4":"has-more-link","5":"post-63","7":"format-standard","8":"category-news","9":"post_tag-fr-marek"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3PTnp-11","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/corpuschristibuffalo.org\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/corpuschristibuffalo.org\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/corpuschristibuffalo.org\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corpuschristibuffalo.org\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corpuschristibuffalo.org\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/corpuschristibuffalo.org\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/corpuschristibuffalo.org\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corpuschristibuffalo.org\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corpuschristibuffalo.org\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}