This is written by a Jesuit Polish-American priest, the late Walter J. Ciszek, and I have been meaning to read it for quite a number of years. Father was imprisoned by the Soviet Union while carrying on a priestly mission ministry in Russia. They claimed he was a spy.
Fr. Ciszek spent 23 years (1940-1963) in the Russian Gulag. His own family assumed he was dead, until they got word from him in the late 1950’s. Ciszek was over five years in solitary confinement in Lubianka prison (subjected to brutal questioning and treatment), about ten years in Siberian concentration camps, and eight years of limited confinement in a number of small Siberian cities.
This is the second of Father’s books about his experience – the first was "With God in Russia" which I haven’t read. In the preface to "He Leadeth Me" Ciszek says "this is the book I wanted to write" because it goes into his spirituality and spiritual development, during the 23 years. His interior life.
And it’s really a wonderful book, as Father talks about his failures and successes, while he constantly seeks to "accept the will of God."
And despite the horrors of what Ciszek faced, it is a very hopeful book. He worked very hard at his priestly ministry while in captivity, which did not sit well with his captors. He is forever astounded by the faith he saw in so many people he came across in terrible circumstances. And this in an officially atheistic country.
Father has his funny moments – for example (P.138): "It is much easier to see the redemptive role of pain and suffering in God’s plan if you are not actually undergoing pain and suffering."
Father Ciszek was traded for a Russian spy in 1963 and had a priestly ministry based at Fordham University, until his death in 1984.
Here is the official Father Ciszek website, as his cause for canonization has been opened. Welcome to Father Walter Ciszek Prayer League Web Site and Prayer Pages!
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