In 1939 Fr Walter Ciszek, a Polish-American Jesuit serving in Poland was swept up by the Red Army and sent to a labor camp in Russia. When his identity was discovered he was arrested as a spy and confined for 5 years of solitary confinement in Moscow: his “school of prayer.”

Dec 9, 2018 · 4:25 PM UTC

20
103
15
306
Then sentenced to 15 yrs of hard labor in Siberia. All the while his Jesuit family believed him dead. He survived this ordeal plus extra years in remote Siberian towns before he was suddenly returned to the US in exchange for Soviet spies. 23 years in USSR. He died Dec 8 1984
1
19
66
What enabled his survival was his “abandonment to providence”—conviction that in every moment he was where God wished him to be. Thus he found freedom and peace. “I realized that true freedom meant nothing else than letting God operate within my soul without interference.”
5
45
3
171
Load newest
Replying to @RobertEllsberg
Long time ago I read his book With God in Russia. I think it’s time to pull it off the shelf and re-read it. His survival should give hope that Fr Paolo Dall’Oglio could still be alive.
2
5
Replying to @RobertEllsberg @JamesMartinSJ
Thank you! Fr. Ciszek is new to me...he inspires in the midst of discouragement and hopelessness. Fr. Walter Ciszek “I realized that true freedom meant nothing else than letting God operate within my soul without interference.”
2
6
Replying to @RobertEllsberg
He Leadeth Me. An extraordinary book. When in Wernersville, I visited his grave daily. AMDG
1
Replying to @RobertEllsberg @cbshartford
His book “He Leadeth Me” was a great read, his words on discernment in the beginning especially spoke to me.
2
Replying to @RobertEllsberg
Ciszek was an extraordinary ordinary man, and my compatriot. His mother and I happen to share last name, which I'd like to investigate at some point, in that distant future when I have time for such things. (BTW, Ciszek means, roughly, "quiet.")
1
2
8
Replying to @RobertEllsberg
His books about the experience are fantastic.
Replying to @RobertEllsberg
So that's what Lubianka looked like on the inside at that time? Having read Fr. Ciszek's books a few times, it's interesting to put an image to his words.
Replying to @RobertEllsberg
And who are the other two with him in the other photo? Are they Nestrov and Makar?
Replying to @RobertEllsberg @pursuedbytruth
Fr. Ciszek’s cause is underway in Rome! His current status: Servant of God. I love him dearly as a spiritual father; though I have had to leave religious life, when I was a part of a community, I took his name as part of my religious name, Sr. Maura Walter.
4
Great!
2
Load more