The Interprovincial Postulancy of all five Polish Provinces began on Friday 13 October in the Monastery of Borki Wielkie, Poland.
At the beginning of the celebration the letter of the Minister General was read. Among other things, he wrote: "One of the aims of the Postulancy is to enable the postulant to confirm his decision to begin following Jesus Christ according to the form of life of St. Francis and to prepare himself adequately for the novitiate" (Ratio Formationis Franciscanae, 181); during this journey "the postulant, with the help of the formators, devotes himself especially to his human formation and deepens his baptismal commitment" (RFF, 182). In these few words we clearly find the essence of this stage, and this is what I hope you will experience in the context of the Fraternity of Formation, made up of all the Friars of the House. May the candidates see in you the mirror of a fraternal life, of poverty and of the grace of work. May they work on themselves and open themselves with confidence to personal and community accompaniment".
The Holy Mass was presided over by the Definitor General, Fr. Konrad Cholewa, in the presence of all five Ministers Provincial, the Secretary and Vice Secretary General for Formation and Studies, and the friars of the local fraternity. Darko Tepert, in his homily in Polish, based on the words of the Gospel of Matthew, stressed that the Lord's call begins with the words: "If you will". The Lord always leaves freedom to his callers. Jesus then asks his disciples to deny themselves. Brother Darko explained that one cannot erase oneself and Jesus does not ask him to do so. What he asks is to place one's will in the hands of God. St. Francis himself sought God's will until the end of his life, for example on La Verna, where he received the stigmata. Jesus invited his disciples to take up their own cross. Brother Darko reminded the postulants where they can find this cross, but also that they will carry it more easily in the Fraternity. Finally, he stressed that the Lord must always be at the centre of their vocation. It is he who has called them and it is he who will give them the strength to continue. Speaking of the first reading with the priestly blessing from the Book of Numbers, which St. Francis mentioned in his note to Brother Leo, Fr. Darko explained that in it the holy name of God is invoked three times upon the Israelites, in the same way that the sign of the Tau, which St. Francis drew on Brother Leo's name, was to be written by the prophet Ezekiel on the foreheads of those who believed in God, or in the Book of Revelation on the foreheads of the redeemed, and he wished that the postulants would wear the sign of the Tau as a sign of the cross, but of the cross that means love.
After the homily, each Minister Provincial received his candidates in postulancy. Since then the Provinces in Poland have 15 new postulants.
At the end of the celebration, Fr. Konrad invited the postulants to live their vocation with joy.
After Holy Mass and the sharing of the table, everyone paused for a moment of fraternal sharing.
