A vocation, not vacation?

Throughout his life Fr. Zdzislaw “Stan” Plawecki, SCJ, has turned to God for answers to his questions.

But sometimes, the 44-year-old admits, he hasn’t always been quick to embrace the response he receives, starting with his own vocation.

He first came in contact with the Priests of the Sacred Heart when a couple of SCJs preached a mission at his family parish in a small town in Poland. The SCJs invited teens to attend a vocational retreat.

Fr. Stan went twice, “but for me, it was just an opportunity for a vacation,” he said. “I did not want to go to the seminary.”

But he did want to be open to the will of God. “So I asked God, ‘If you want me to go to the seminary can you give me a concrete sign?’”

He was relieved that in the weeks ahead that he did not see one.

That was until he joined a friend on a trip; the friend was going to see an SCJ vocation director. Again, Fr. Stan’s interest was in a VACATION not a VOCATION.

But then came the sign.

“The vocation director asked me about my plans for the future,” he said. “I told him that I was going to the university in Krakow to study technology. But he said ‘No, you will go to the seminary with your friend.’”

It was the sign that Fr. Stan said that he did not want to see.

Within a week he changed his plans for the university and entered the postulancy program with the Priests of the Sacred Heart.

For nine months he fought with God about his vocation. “I prayed that he would change it,” said Fr. Stan.

Near the end of his novitiate Fr. Stan went on a month-long Ignatian retreat. During it, he said that he had a conversion experience. It was then that he embraced his vocation to the priesthood and never looked back… at least not too far.

A missionary? Not me!

In the seminary each student was expected to join a prayer group. The focus of Fr. Stan’s was the missions. “I didn’t think about being a missionary, I just prayed for them and their work,” he said. Fr. Stan pictured himself serving in Poland, most likely in formation, in youth ministry. “I had no missionary call.”

Or so he thought.

Among those who were in attendance at Fr. Stan’s ordination in 1999 was a missionary from Cameroon. The missionary asked Fr. Stan and his classmate, “Which of you will go to Africa?”

Fr. Stan assured the missionary that it wouldn’t be him.

As with many newly ordained priests in Poland, Fr. Stan’s initial assignments were in parishes. The first was very large, “and I felt lost,” he said. Fr. Stan was much more comfortable in his next assignment, a small parish similar to what he experienced growing up. “I like being able to know the people as you can in a small parish, having direct contact with them,” he said.

The young priest was happy in his new assignment, but felt that something was lacking in his life. “I wanted to give myself more fully to Jesus but I was not sure how.”

And then he began to think of the missions. “Maybe this would be the way to give of myself more fully,” he said. “I asked God.”

Fr. Stan took part in a meeting of young priests in the Polish Province. During it, the provincial superior told them of some of the needs in the congregation, especially in the missions.

That was his sign, the answer to his question about becoming a missionary. “On Mercy Sunday I wrote my request for the missions and on the feast of the Ascension I sent it to my provincial,” he said.

His request was accepted and soon after he was in Paris studying French in preparation for the missions in Cameroon.

Wonderful!

“I arrived in Cameroon and it was wonderful!” said Fr. Stan. “The welcome was incredible. The people, the community; everyone was so kind. It still stays with me.”

Besides the strong sense of welcome, he also noticed something else.

“Everyone walked slowly; no one was in a hurry,” he said. This, he realized, was his first step into enculturation. “I loved the contact with people. If I went to the market, immediately a group formed around me. You speak to one person and others quickly join in. If you are kind and gentle you are met with the same.”

He felt the same sense of welcome in his SCJ community. “It was very international,” he said, “we had SCJs from France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Cameroon and, of course, Poland. There were differences and challenges, but I liked it very much.”

This community, as well the next one of which he was a part, made a strong commitment to community life. “Each night after dinner we would sit for an hour in the recreation room to have tea and just talk,” he said. There was a television, but it was rarely used. “There was a strong commitment to each other, to spend time together and to be community.”

Fr. Stan was very happy, which started to make him uneasy.

He went to the missions to give himself more fully to God, to have a sense of sacrifice “but I had everything in the mission,” he said.

“I lived in a well-built house, I had hot and cold running water, I had all the food that I needed. I lacked for nothing while the people we lived among were living in poverty. I felt like a wealthy man and I didn’t like it,” said Fr. Stan.

The monastic life

In the midst of his personal discernment Fr. Stan led a group of Cameroon students on a retreat at a nearby Trappist monastery.

“I was instantly attracted to the monastic life,” he said. Following the retreat he returned to the monastery each month for a day of reflection and eventually connected with a Trappist spiritual director.

Fr. Stan told the Trappist that he was looking for a deeper life, one that was more fully consecrated to God. His spiritual director suggested that he give monastic life a try. Fr. Stan spoke to his provincial superior and eventually received permission to go to a monastery. He spent five months at a monastery in Poland and four more at one in France.

“I loved it!” he said. “Morning prayer, meditation. I thought that God was answering my questions with a whole new vocation.”

But then he listened more closely to God’s voice. Fr. Stan was happy, “but during prayer, in my discernment, I realized that I was still called to an apostolic life,” he said. “The monastery filled my heart but I needed to be with others. God answered my questions.

“It was time for me to leave the monastery and get back to preaching the Gospel.”

 

Fr. Stan returned to Poland and transitioned back into the community. “However, in my heart I knew that I could go anywhere that I was needed,” he said.

The general administration was seeking another Polish SCJ to be a part of a new effort in Asia.

“I said yes and now here I am,” said Fr. Stan. “Here” is Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology’s ESL program. English is the primary language of communication for all of the congregation’s Asian missions.

Greatest gift

Before concluding an interview Fr. Stan said that he wanted to talk about one of his greatest gifts. It came to him as a result of once again going to God with a question.

“It was in my first ministry in Cameroon as the vicar in a parish,” he said. “There was a widow who was very religious, a very good woman. But in Cameroon, a widow’s life can be hard.

“She came to me and was very sad. She spoke of her hard life, the scorn she received from others, even children. ‘Life has become too hard for me, too many bad things,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to live any more.’

“The woman looked at me, waiting for help but I couldn’t give her anything. I was totally empty. I didn’t know what to do so I prayed; I asked God a question, I asked him what to do.”

A few minutes later Fr. Stan suggested to the widow that they see what Christ suggests. “I quoted the Gospel where Jesus says that when someone does something bad to you, you answer by doing something good,” he said. “If someone says something bad of you, you bless that person. ‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.’” [Luke 6, 27-28]

The widow told him that this would be too hard for her. “But she said that she would try,” said Fr. Stan.

It was a month before he saw the widow again.

“I was amazed, she was changed,” he said. “Her face was shining like the sun. ‘Father, this works, THIS WORKS!’ she said to me.”

That morning, the neighbor who had been most difficult with her asked for pardon and gave her a chicken. A child who had previously thrown stones at her asked if he could fetch her water.

“It was the happiest day of my life,” she said to Fr. Stan. “It was worth everything that I endured to have this experience because I know that God is with me.”

Fr. Stan said that it was the greatest gift that he had ever received, the best answer to any question that he had ever asked of God.

“On that day I truly learned the power of pardon, the GIFT of pardon,” said Fr. Stan.