Counsels given to Sister Mary Bogdana Mazaraki

Mother Mary Angela wrote those counsels in a small notebook of 32 pages. On the inner cover of this notebook there is pasted a colored picture of Our Lady of Czestochowa. On page 1 there is a picture of the Crucified Christ and beneath it is the following statement: Behold the book of the Chosen, behold the school of perfection, behold the collection of all knowledge. On the left side are found the following words: Read this book often and study it and you will hate sin; you will be overcome with the fear of the judgment of God; you will learn about humility, obedience, patience, love of God and neighbour; you will hold all earthly things in contempt; and you will imitate Jesus Christ. On the bottom we find: Who know him, knows all and will possess all.

Sister Mary Bogdana, Alexandra Mazaraki (1838-1908) entered the Congregation at Warsaw in 1859. She worked for several years at different local missions of the Congregation. Towards the end of her life, because of illness, she remained for about 20 years in the convent infirmary. The Mortuology carries this information about her: She was a quiet soul, united with God throughout her convent life.

[Warsaw], July 18, 1860

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JMJ
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To want to love God and not to want to suffer is empty illusion, even though I do not know how one can say that one suffers if one really loves our Lord Jesus Christ with all her heart; he is the one who converts the deepest bitterness into sweetness and send you and consolation into the most painful and humiliating moments.

Let us love our Lord Jesus Christ, but let us love him on the cross because his heart is overjoyed when he finds love, pain and silence in one and the same heart. What does it matter from what kind of wood our cross is hewed out as long as it is a cross to which love keeps us nailed. Let us try, above all, to carry our cross in humility and silence because the cross is a great treasure which we must hide so that it is not taken away from us. I do not know what would console us in this long and difficult life nor what would be able to strengthen us more that constant suffering in love. Let us suffer without complaining, realizing that every moment not spent on the cross is lost. Oh, how good it is to live and to die on the cross! The cross is an expensive balm. Let us hide it carefully so that it would not lose its fragrance before God. Oh, how good and helpful is the cross at all times and in all places. Let us thank God if he sometimes sends it to us and let us ask him to forgive us if we do not bear it well, and, that possessing such a great treasure we still remain in such poverty of soul.

The most perfect thing is never to ask for anything nor decline something, but leave it to the love of God so that it may crucify us according to its Will and Mercy. We should not look for any other consolation but this: not to seek the joys of the world but to suffer with the Crucified Christ in silence.