INFORMATION ON PRAYER VIGILS HELD AT THE MISSIONARY BENEDICTINE SISTERS MONASTERY IN OTWOCK

Stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near!
(Lk 21: 28)

In November 2000, a three-day retreat was held at the Missionary Benedictine Sisters Monastery in Otwock for the parents of children attending the Benedictine Non-Public Kindergarten “Anielinek”. It was led by university chaplain F. Roman Trzciński, and the original idea came from the kindergarten’s headmistress, Sr. Teresita Owsiejko OSB.

After the retreat, a prayer group of seven married couples was formed. As professional duties made it impossible for many of them to regularly participate in weekly meetings, from February 2001 onwards the group decided to meet once a month. In view of their length and agenda, the meetings have since been called vigils, and have always been open to participants from outside the parents’ group.

The prayer vigils have a regular agenda, and have witnessed considerable dynamics – over the years, several hundred people have participated in the meetings. They last several hours – from 6:00 p.m. until midnight. Usually about 50 people participate in each meeting, mostly not related to the kindergarten anymore, while becoming more and more attached to the Benedictine Sisters Monastery and Benedictine spirituality. During the meetings there is time for prayer, teaching, testimonies, the Eucharist, and a meal. The organizers – Sr. Teresita Owsiejko OSB and Małgorzata and Marek Nowicki (parents of one of the children who used to attend the kindergarten) are committed to ensuring that the vigils are kept to an appropriately high standard.

The organizers want to minister mostly to middle-aged people who are professionally active and have already started a family. Those who disappear from churches: overworked, striving for money, unable to find time for a meeting with God. In their everyday life immersed in a secularized world, authentic faith, usually passed on in the family, often faces difficult trials. The organizers try to strengthen their faith not only through common prayer, but also by offering them good Christian teaching delivered by publicly known and respected persons.

Over the nine years, our guests have included, among others:

• Bishop Bronisław Dembowski, national chaplain for Renewal in the Holy Spirit
• Jan Budziaszek, Skaldowie rock group percussionist
• (+) Professor Anna Świderkówna, biblical scholar
• Michał Kulenty, jazz musician
• Krzysztof Zanussi, film director
• Tomasz Budzyński, Armia rock group musician
• Ewa Uryga, Antonina Krzysztoń, singers
• Piotr Kamiński, President of Bank Pocztowy
• Ryszard Peryt, director at Warsaw Chamber Opera
• Konstanty Radziwiłł, President of the Supreme Board of Physicians
• Tomasz Dangel, anaesthesiologist, founder of Warsaw’s Hospice for Children
• Marcin Przeciszewski, President of the Catholic Information Agency
• Zbigniew Nosowski, Paweł Milcarek, Tomasz Terlikowski, Szymon Hołownia, columnists
• Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, Marek Jurek, politicians
• Robert Cudzich, Joachim Mencel, New Life M musicians
• Marek Dąbrowski, World Vice-Champion in Motorcycle Racing
• Bogdan Rymanowski, Krzysztof Ziemiec i Przemysław Babiarz, Tomasz Zubilewicz, TV presenters
• Roman Kluska, businessman
• Anna Gręziak, Jerzy Kwieciński, Vice Ministers in J. Kaczyński cabinet
• Andrzej Mikosz, Minister of the Treasury in K. Marcinkiewicz cabinet
• Jacek Wrona i Jacek Zalewski, policemen
• Janusz Zakrzeński, Agnieszka Fatyga, actors
• Krzysztof Bukiel, Director of the Polish Association of Medical Professionals
• and many others

The initiative which was originally intended as a get-together for the parents of children attending the Non-Public Kindergarten “Anielinek” in Otwock has long outgrown the expectations of its originators. We now participate in meetings which provide an excellent opportunity for a much broader stimulation of lay people in the Church. Thanks to the openness and the great amount of trust on the part of the kindergarten’s headmistress, Sr. Teresita Owsiejko OSB, and the support the initiative has received from Mother General of the Congregation, Sr. Martyna Wysocka OSB, for the past nine years of common adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and celebration of the Eucharist, both lay people and religious sisters have been able to experience the Church as a Community at a deeper level.

Our website: www.czuwanie.opoka.net.pl