Venerable Jan Tyranowski

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Jan was born in 1900 and grew up in the suburbs of Krakow Poland. His father wanted him to be an accountant, for which Jan obtained a degree and began working professionally as such. But by 1930 the stress of the position led to serious and chronic stomach problems that were so debilitating that Jan left accounting and began to work in the family business as a tailor.

See, Jan was extremely introverted. He loved being hidden and alone. It worked really well for him to create or mend suits in the solitude of the family tailor shop in the back room.

Then came the moment that changed his life. In 1935 Jan heard a sermon in which the priest said, “It is not difficult to be a saint.”

Tyranowski took this as the truth! But how should he go about reaching this new-found goal of becoming a saint? First Jan recognized that becoming a saint was all about pursuing a deeper and deeper intimacy with Jesus. Intimacy with Jesus was the goal. We need the right goal but to reach it we need to develop a system to stay focused on intimacy with Jesus and detached from an overemphasis on earthly, bodily, material desires. So, Jan created a system for himself so that he would have the daily spiritual practices necessary to reach intimacy with Jesus.

He began the day with meditation and Mass and thanksgiving after Mass. He prayed the Rosary at a set time daily. He built in time for spiritual reading and a brief examination of conscience.

He had a daily spiritual system that enabled him to reach the goal of intimacy with Jesus. Do you have a daily spiritual system to help you reach the goal?

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During WWII the parish to which Jan belonged, St Stanislaw Kostka at Debniki, a suburb of Kracow was run by the Salesians, a religious community founded by St. John Bosco and dedicated to forming young people. On May 23, 1941, the Gestapo rounded up the Salesian priests of the parish and shipped them to Dachau concentration camp where eleven died.

Before they were taken away, the Salesians entrusted their work of forming the young people to an introverted layman - Jan Tyranowski who took responsibility. He created “Living Rosary” groups of 15 young men. Each group was led by a more mature young person who received personal spiritual direction and instruction from the mystically gifted tailor. Tyranowski met with the entire Living Rosary organization every third Sunday of the month and was also available to any member of a Living Rosary group as needed. As new members joined, new groups were formed and a new leader chosen from outstanding members of an existing group. In weekly, hour-long meetings in his apartment, Tyranowski taught his group leaders both the fundamentals of the spiritual life and methods for systematically examining and improving their daily lives. Jan Tyranowski’s approach to the interior life included an apostolic dimension. Prayer should lead to an intensified life of service to others. Members of the Living Rosary pledged themselves to a life of intensified prayer as brothers in Christ who would help one another in all the circumstances of their lives—as workers, as students, and in the difficulties of their family lives.

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A young man named Karol Wojtyla met Jan Tyranowski in February of 1940.

The two met just a few months after Poland was overrun by the Nazi’s and a not long bfore young Karol Woytyla’s father would die, leaving him with no family in this world. God’s providential hand is always guiding everything.

Tyranowski picked Karol Woytyla to lead one of the Living Rosary groups. In this way he was formed personally by Tyranowski  in the Fundamentals of prayer and the spiritual life and how to develop a life of virtue. He introduced Karol to the works of St John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, the Doctors of Prayer and helped him understand their works and discern his vocation to the priesthood. It was because of Tyranowski that Karol Woytyla became a priest. And it was Karol Woytla who became Pope St. John Paul II, whose feast we celebrated yesterday. John Paul brought the Gospel to 129 countries and did more to reinvigorate the Catholic faith than anyone maybe since St. Paul.

One Layman formed one young person

·       And the whole world was changed

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You are still on this earth because God has a mission for you.

Are you ready to take responsibility for you the mission God has for you or are you still under the illusion it’s someone else’s job?

O.K, I want to do this. But what do I do? Well, we make things way more complex than they need be. Just live a simple way of life.

·       The first thing Jan Tyranowski did was to create his own personal system of prayer, learning and way of life so that he could pursue intimacy with Jesus each day and remove from his life the things that led him to sin.

·       Create a personal system of daily meditation and a resolution, a brief examination of conscience, of receiving the Eucharist as often as possible and praying the Rosary every day.

·       If you pray this podcast then you receive daily formation in the Catholic faith and way of life through the meditations.

·       Then invite others to pray the Rosary podcast with you or read the transcript and pray the decades and when you finish, discuss what you reflected on.

·       It doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that.

You can do this with your spouse, your kids, your friends, anyone…That is what Jan Tyranowski did and he was a very introverted lay-person with no formal training in theology.

Look what God did with him.

Who knows what God can do with you – if you answer the call?

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Many Christians are not willing to say yes to the one mission that Jesus gave us – to go and make disciples.

Why is this?

It might be that you are unwilling. For this I have no answer. I you are unwilling to do what the Lord has asked – what can I say?

You might be in difficult circumstances. I can’t think of anything short of coma or death that would prevent you from praying the Rosary, praying it with others and then helping them to a deeper desire for God through good conversation.

It might be a lack of confidence. To that I answer: The Lord will not leave you to do this alone. He is with you. He will do everything and supply for all your insufficiencies. If the Lord put you on earth, why can’t you trust him. Trust the Lord to give you what you need. Quit doubting and get out of the boat and stay focused on Him.