As we continue to pray for the on-going war in Ukraine, I present a mystic born in that country, who Father E. mentioned in a class recently. Will she be the next St. Faustina?
STEFANIA
FULLA HORAK was
a Lviv native, born in Tarnopol in 1909. She studied philosophy, graduating
from the Lviv Conservatory, and working as a music teacher. She had a very
inquisitive and unusually sharp mind. In her youth, she abandoned the faith she
had learned at home, but not God, whom she desired with all her being. "I don't believe in anything that people believe in. I don't
understand how they believe. I think that if God exists, He is much greater
than anything that can be said about Him.”
During
the war, she was a liaison officer for the Home Army, a post she retained until
the end of the German occupation in Lviv.
In
great torment, she searched for the truth for many years, praying: "God!
If you are there - give me light!". She wanted to experience
God, "let Him satisfy me". She wrote many times about the desire for
God to come to her. One of Fulla Horak's most moving entries are the words:
"God! How I hate you for not being here!"
The
great desire to meet God made Fulla decide to give an ultimatum to the Mother
of God herself. From her notes we learn what she asked Mary for in Częstochowa:
"If people obtain graces related to health or material matters from the
image, why shouldn't I try to gain light for my soul there? Although I was an
unbeliever, I decided to exhaust all recommended means, so that I would have
nothing to reproach myself with and to gain proof of my best will."
Neither
the fanfare at the unveiling of the image, nor the praying crowd, nor the dark
face above the altar made the slightest impression on me. The vota seemed to me
to be a distasteful, advertising decoration, and the priest calling from the
pulpit - insincere. (...) And then, coldly, objectively and clearly, I gave the
Mother of God an ultimatum: if within three months - simply, without any
miracles, without shocks, without extraordinary things - I obtain faith and an
inner sense of God - I vow to serve Heaven until death."
Fulla's nephew, Father Tomasz Horak, told us that his aunt had received the
desired light. In August 935, Fulla attended a salon meeting. During the
conversation, one of the women talked about a case she had managed to solve
thanks to the intercession of the Mother of God. Fulla admitted at the time
that she did not believe in Mary. The woman addressed Stefania with the words:
"God! How unfortunate you are that you do not believe!" A few days
after the meeting, which had a strong impact on Fulla, Stefania experienced a
presence from the afterlife.
And
the light came, although not immediately. In August 1935, Fulla experienced the
presence of someone from the afterlife for the first time. At that time, she
did not know who, but she soon found out – it was St. Magdalena Zofia Barat,
who had died 70 years earlier (1865), the founder of the Sacré Coeur
congregation.
Under the dictation of St. Magdalena, she wrote down subsequent notebooks in a mystical way. The words written then concerned Fulla herself. Then came the mystical revelations presented in this book – an extraordinary journal of mystical meetings with saints, containing their teachings. During one of the visions, St. Magdalena told Stephanie to write down her words. "Take a piece of paper and a pencil. Don't shine the light. Write. Calm down, come next to me. Sit closer."
" I sat down with the notebook on my lap and suddenly the pencil started moving on the paper by itself. I was just holding it. I don't know what she was writing because I didn't hear any dictation. Shine the light and read it" - we read in the notes. The note contained instructions for Stefania. Over time, Fulla began to have mystical revelations. They
were presented in a book entitled "The Holy Lady. Mystical Revelations and
Visions". The publication contains the teachings of the saints who came to
Fulla, their messages, as well as descriptions of the realities of heaven,
purgatory, and hell experienced by Fulla.
Other
saints came to Fulla’s apartment on Kopernika Street in Lviv: Cardinal Mercier,
John Bosco, Teresa of the Child Jesus, January and Sylwester, Andrzej Bobola,
John Vianney, Catherine Emmerich, Pierre Giorgio Frassati, Joan of Arc,
Stephen, and Nicholas. They came to her very realistically – Fulla could, for
example, touch the rough habit of St. Magdalena Zofia.
The
altar in her house became a tabernacle. Fulla smuggled the Holy Communion
stored there to prisoners whom she helped, but was caught and arrested by the
Soviets. She was sentenced to 10 years, serving the entire sentence in the hell
of the Gulag, surviving the terrible test of the cross, when she underwent an
operation to remove her stomach and duodenum without anesthesia.
Returning to Poland, she settled in Zakopane with her sister Zofia, offering
advice, prayers and hope to those who came
to her.
After a life full of sacrifice, suffering, and
service, Fulla Horak died in Zakopane on March 9, 1993.
Father Tomasz Horak points out that there is no answer to the question of why the Church has not recognized Fulla Horak's writings so far. There were attempts by the German publisher to obtain the bishop's permission to print and distribute the book, i.e. an imprimatur. This is not a confirmation of the authenticity of the revelations, but consent to print may be confused with such confirmation. Hence the excessive caution of church offices.
Only 27 years have passed since Fulla's death in 1993. In the scheme of things, this is not a long time. In the case of people who experienced revelations, very often the Church has banned the distribution of the content transmitted in the revelations, such as the case with St. Faustina's "Diary". So far nothing in her visions has been found to b against Church doctrine.
Some
of the visions taken from her journals:
"The
sufferings of purgatory are long and more severe than the hardest life! The
torment of a soul eternally damned exceeds our imagination in its monstrosity.
There is nothing in our concepts to which it could be compared. And the eternal
happiness that God has destined for the saved, the happiness that I know from
those who are already experiencing it, surpasses everything, and at the same
time is worth overcoming all the weakness of our corrupt nature to gain it! God
has promised eternal happiness to all who love Him, and He will keep His
Word!" - describes Fulla in the book "The Holy Lady".
Heaven "The
bland, helpless human imagination, unable to find another word for it, says
that eternal happiness is singing, proclaiming the glory of God and constantly
looking into the Face of God.. it is not stillness
and inaction! "Looking into the Face of God" is the inability to do
anything otherwise than according to His will. Here
everything that our imagination could create is realized. For all the most
fantastic human thoughts are but a pale, distant reflection of God's
ingenuity. In
Heaven the soul will find all desires, but it will find them in a perfect form.
It will find there even that which, unthought of, lay at its bottom as a
longing".
"Purgatory
is more terrible than anything that can be said about it. Purgatory
consists of countless and most diverse circles. The circle of Hunger, Fear,
Horror, Affliction. Speaking of Purgatory, I will omit the torment of longing
for God, because this longing is the fundamental state of the repentant soul.
It might seem that as we enter higher and higher Circles of purification, as we
approach the Eternal Light more and more, the torment of longing weakens in the
face of the hope of imminent satisfaction. No! The proximity of this Light
intensifies in the soul the intense, unique striving to unite with it - it
pulls it towards itself with incomprehensible force, so that in the last Circle
of Purgatory, where there are no other sufferings apart from waiting, the
longing for God reaches its highest intensity.
Nothing
weighs down the soul in purgatory as much as the resentment or hatred of those
left on earth. In contrast to the mutual benefit of prayer for the dead, such
hatred brings mutual harm."
The
most merciful, most tender, most powerful Advocate of the souls suffering in
Purgatory is the Most Holy Virgin Mary.
Every
offering always has, but especially on All Souls' Day, a huge real value for
the souls in Purgatory. You can offer any little thing for them. Even the
effort of going to the cemetery, carrying a wreath, the crowding in the tram,
getting cold, getting soaked - everything! You just have to offer it
consciously. The intention gives importance and meaning to every effort."
Hell "Like
Heaven and Purgatory, Hell is divided into the most diverse and innumerable
Circles. The lower the Circle, the more terrible the torment in it. The damned
soul knows about the full greatness, power and beauty of God, and is
simultaneously aware that it will never see Him. It knows that its suffering is
eternal and that nothing will soothe or alleviate this torment. It is burned by
the unquenchable fire of desire and longing for happiness that will never be
its share.
A
torment that no words can convey: conscious, aware, hopeless, hateful and
eternal torment - this is the state from which no damned soul will ever emerge.
And this is Hell!"
The
mystic also drew attention to the importance of Guardian Angels in our lives.
"When God creates a human soul, He simultaneously assigns it a Guardian
Angel. This is a Spirit whose properties are closely adapted to the character
of the soul entrusted to His care. The
Guardian Angel's
care for a person is limited to protecting them from what God has allowed to
happen to them. In such cases, the Guardian Angel has the right to intervene
with Divine Providence and can remove many things from a person through his
intercession. However, this can only happen when the good will of a person
listens to the inner promptings and warnings of his Guardian Angel."
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Father Tomasz Horak points out that there is no answer to the question of why the
Church has not recognized Fulla Horak's writings so far. There were attempts
by the German publisher to obtain the bishop's permission to print and
distribute the book, i.e. an imprimatur. This is not a confirmation of the
authenticity of the revelations, but consent to print may be confused with such
confirmation. Hence the excessive caution of church offices.
Only
27 years have passed since Fulla's death in 1993. In the scheme of things, this is not a long time. In the case of people who
experienced revelations, very often the Church has banned the
distribution of the content transmitted in the revelations, such as the case
with St. Faustina's "Diary".