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He Leadeth Me

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Our parish priest referred to "He Leadeth Me" in his homily recently and I thought the book might be interesting. Little did I know that I would find Father Ciszek's message to be one of the most inspiring I have ever read. Throughout his terrible ordeal he never lost his faith in God. No matter what the Russian authorities attempted to do to him, Fr. Ciszek knew that by turning his life over to God and doing God's will he had nothing to fear. Fr. Ciszek found God where most of us would find only despair. I strongly recommend this book to everyone. I know you will be inspired by the message of God's love.

Every Christian should read this autobiography. It will help you understand what you might expect and how you should react in future persecutions, which might come from the populace (as Hollywood and the media stirs public hatred against Christians, especially Catholics), expansionist totalitarian regimes (now that they have found easy access to so many of our military secrets), or militant religious fundamentalists (as they are in Africa and Malaysia).

Fr. Ciszek is being investigated for possible canonization. He would be a saint along the lines of St. Peter, rather than along the lines of St. Therese of Lisieux. He volunteered for service in Stalinist Russia. He had always wanted to do the will of God, until he was severely challenged by repeated interrogations in prison in Stalinist Russia. His realization of his weakness was the turning point in his life, much as St. Peter's was after he denied Christ.

What we learn from this book is that we should accept and rely on God's will, with our eye on the ultimate goal (union with God), even in our seemingly insignificant daily activities. Now that you know what you would learn, you may decide that you need not read the book. Don't be deceived. You will not learn the lesson from reading that one sentence but rather by reading Fr. Ciszek's own account of his failings, his humility, and his reaction to adverse conditions in prison and out. His experiences, and his insight into his behavior, will burn the lesson into your brain. We all experience the same challenges and frustrations, albeit to a lesser intensity. For example, we are all sometimes placed with people who are obnoxious and overbearing, but not to the intensity of Communist prison guards. You can see how Father turns such circumstances into an opportunity to accede to God's will.

Father will teach you much about life. He will convince you that people can become so imbued with sin that they feel that society owes them something, thereby justifying their actions against society. He will also show that all work, even forced labor, is ennobling; that suffering is good; and that elaborate surroundings are not necessary for a devout Mass. He will show you that keeping people busy is effective in keeping them from a spiritual life - a lesson we might apply to ourselves or to our media-swamped teenagers. He also shows that the atheistic Communists were able to devise an effective moral code by brainwashing everyone, from childhood onward, to believe that living for others is what is good. Their moral code was not far from the mark, being the second great commandment. If they had included the first, reason rather than brainwashing could have been used.

With this book, you will humbly see your human weakness in the awesome sight of God.

Here are the reflections of an American Jesuit priest imprisoned in the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1963.He grew from a self-seeking creature into an inspiring priest. Early in his confinement he painfully learned how to pray. He learned how to be utterly submissive to God's will. This early experience transformed him and prepared him to dispense the forbidden Holy Mysteries to the Orthodox and Catholic "Church of Silence" imprisoned in the Siberian concentration camps. He became a true ikon of Christ! He fearlessly baptized and chrismated; heard confessions; celebrated the Divine Liturgy; distibuted communion; preached sermons, and prayed for the dead. Wherever he went, the people flocked to him. Very Orthodox and very American.

Fr. Walter Ciszek's story of 23 years in Siberian prisons seems at first as if it will be a dismal tale.

Rather, Fr. Ciszek embraces his time in prison as God's will. His utter reliance on prayer and on God are truly inspiring.

Each chapter is not only moving, but provides the reader with a different lesson in faith. This book is powerful reading. You will not be disappointed.

This book is powerful, I just finished reading it. Fr. Ciszek exposes depths of his soul for the sake of his readers. He went through extremely hard times but came away with the meaning of life. What he wants to pass on to us is practical knowledge for living. Every event that we are presented with in our lives should be considered an opportunity to make the best of it. To keep the faith that God is watching out for us and sometimes has a tough mission for us to do. Many times "tough" is mundane and monotonous. Many times he had doubts. But in the end he saw how many people he could help as a priest in atheistic Russia. Now with his efforts in print, he will inspire for generations to come. I didnt want to finish the book, I read it very slowly and put it down for a while when I was near the end. This man lived the life of a saint, which is the life that we are all meant to live.

When my pastor saw that I was starting to read this book, he suggested that I first read Fr. Cizek's original book about his ordeals, "With God in Russia". It was a good suggestion. The first book deals more objectively with the experiences he endured, providing a background to the deep spiritual journey he details in "He Leadeth Me".

If we could elect our saints, Fr. Cizek would have my "vote" in a heartbeat! Although he survived horrors that we can barely imagine, he stresses that what God wants of each one of us, no matter where we may find ourselves, is simple surrender to His will, and that it is in that humble obedience that we will find our own way to sainthood. Many years after his death, Fr. Cizek's writings continue to inspire us to persevere in faith.

The first I heard of Walter Cizek was walking through a Jesuit cemetery in Wernersville, PA, where I happened to come across his grave. A priest I was with told me that this Jesuit was up for sainthood in the Catholic Church. Why? I asked. He then refered me to this book. "He Leadeth Me" is one of the most moving stories I have ever read; a beautiful balanced tale of adventure, drama, tragedy, and theology. Walter Cizek was an American Jesuit missionary in Russia before WWII, and was imprisoned by the Soviet government under the accusation of being a Vatican spy. He spent five years in solitary confinement in the notorios Lubianka prison in Moscow before being sentenced to another fifteen years hard labor in Siberia. Throughout this harrowing tale of hardship, however, are dramatic and inspiring insights into the human experience and its relationship with God in times of trial. There are wonderful paralells between Cisek's experience and that of Christ, as well as many helpful guides to finding Jesus in our own lives during our own personal difficulties. "He Leadeth Me" can inspire any person, Christian or not, towards the grace that can be found in our lives in the face of unspeakable misery.

I have always been interested in the KGB persecution of Christians in Russia, but this memoir took that interest to a whole new level! Brother Ciszek suffered many things at the hands of Soviet policemen, but lived to tell his story. All I can say is: Read this book and you will be changed, inspired, encouraged, and amazed at God's power to strengthen and provide for His loved ones. I love to read all types of books and biographies, but this is one of my absolute favorites!!

I started reading He Leadeth Me because I thought it might have some interesting thoughts on God and suffering, as a general concept. I had no idea, however, how very applicable Fr. Ciszek's hard-learned insights would be to my day-to-day life as the average American stay-at-home mom.

The wisdom he learned after five years in solitary confinement and 20+ years at a Siberian slave labor camp is not just how to grow closer to God in the face of great upheaval and suffering, but how to know and live God's will in the face of the frustrating, the humdrum, and the mundane.

I can't recommend this book highly enough to everyone -- whether you're experiencing great suffering or just frustrated by the daily grind, you will undoubtedly find Fr. Ciszek's story life-changing.

Matthew Kelly (see [...]) recommended "He Leadeth Me" by Walter Ciszek, S.J., to me as it had a significant influence on him and his spiritual journey. The book has also had a profound influence on me - so much so, that I cannot get it out of my mind.

In "He Leadeth Me," U.S. born Ciszek recounts his life as a Catholic priest who enthusiastically volunteered for preaching the gospel and administering the sacraments in communist Russia and ended up spending twenty three agonizing years in Soviet prisons, including five years of solitary confinement in Moscow's feared Lubianka prison and fifteen years of hard labor in Siberian prison camps.

Upon his return to the US in 1963, as part of an exchange for two convicted Russian spies, Ciszek was asked over and over again how he survived. "He Leadeth Me" is his response. This book is about the faith he discovered and the simple truths he learned by trial and error. Truths he came to appreciate only after much anguish of soul and a great deal of prayerful reflection; truths that sustained him through the years of doubt and darkness, of hardship and suffering.

The learned truth that threads its way throughout the book is that no one can know greater peace, no one can achieve a greater sense of fulfillment in his life than the man who believes in the truth of the faith and strives daily to put it into practice. "A spirituality based on complete trust in God is the surest guarantee of peace of soul and freedom of spirit."

There are moments of crisis in every life, moments of anxiety and fear, moments of frustration and opposition, moments sometimes even of terror. Only by a lively faith can man live in peace among the tensions of the world. Faith is the fulcrum of our moral and spiritual balance - our powerlessness to solve the problems of evil, sin, injustice, suffering, and even death will not be a cause of despair or despondency when we have an unshakable trust and confidence in God.

After great anguish, doubt, and repeated resistance by Ciszek, he submitted to the will of God realizing that every moment of our life has a purpose, that every action of ours, no matter how dull or routine or trivial it may seem in itself, has a dignity and a worth beyond human understanding. No moment can be wasted, no opportunity missed, since each has a purpose in God's plan. We need to strive to know God's will and to do it each day of our lives - working this out with constant effort and attention to just those persons and circumstances God presents to us each day. He expects no more of us, but He will expect nothing less of us, and we fail in our promise and commitment if we do not see in situations of every moment of every day of His divine will.

God asks for the complete gift of self...absolute faith in His existence, His providence, His power to sustain me, and His love perfecting me. While it sounds all too simple, one quickly learns how difficult it is when they try to put it into practice. "Is this too simple or are we just afraid really to believe it, to accept it fully, to yield ourselves up to it in total commitment? This is the ultimate question of faith, and each must answer this for himself. But to answer it in the affirmative is to know peace, to discover a meaning to life that surpasses all understanding."

"He Leadeth Me," first published in 1972, is a classic and continues as an all-time best seller. Ciszek has written a powerful testimony that will challenge your view of life and, possibly, a source of a transfiguration. "It is my hope, indeed my prayer that what I have learned and come to understand so slowly and painfully might be of service to others. God is a most patient teacher, even to the most stubborn of students."