Episode Transcript  

One

The World Is Changed by Ordinary People

When we look at the world today, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. There are encouraging signs of renewal, especially among some young people. Yet many people we know and love have drifted from God. Families are divided. Many no longer practice their faith. Young people are searching for meaning, friendship, and purpose but do not know where to turn. We see confusion, loneliness, anxiety, and a growing distance from God. Sometimes we look at these problems and think, "What can one person possibly do?" But God has always renewed the world in the same way.

Again and again throughout history, He renews the world through ordinary people who say yes to Him. Not through institutions or politicians. Not through celebrities. Ordinary men and women who love Jesus, pray faithfully, and invest in a few other people. Today we will meet two such people: Blessed Pauline Jaricot and Jan Tyranowski. Neither was a priest. Neither was famous. Yet God used them and their Rosary Groups to change the world.

Two

Pauline Jaricot and the Living Rosary

The first was Blessed Pauline Jaricot. To understand what she did, we need to understand the world in which she lived. Pauline was born in Lyon, France, in 1799, shortly after the French Revolution. The Revolution sought to eradicate Catholicism in France. Church property was seized. Monasteries and convents were closed. Priests were persecuted. Churches were turned into "Temples of Reason." Catholic schools were shuttered. Many people drifted away from the faith.

Much like our culture today, many of Pauline's family and friends had little interest in religion or prayer and knew almost nothing about their faith. In her diary she wrote, "The spiritual ills of my country were increasing before my very eyes."

Though Pauline was not a priest or a nun, and only twenty-seven years old, she desperately longed for a way to set the hearts of men and women on fire for Jesus. Then God inspired her. He reminded her that whenever the Church faced great crises, renewal often came through Mary and the Rosary. So Pauline began gathering people together. She invited them to pray the Rosary. She organized them into small groups. She encouraged them to learn their faith. She welcomed everyone, the fervent, the mediocre, and those who had little more than goodwill.

Pauline said, "Fifteen pieces of coal, one is well lit, four or five are half lit, and the rest are not lit at all. Put the fifteen together and you have a blazing fire."

The results were astonishing. After only five years, the Living Rosary had spread throughout Europe. Within eight years there were more than one million members. No social media. No internet. Just friendship, good conversation, and the Rosary.

Three

Jan Tyranowski

More than one hundred years later, God would use the same method again. Jan Tyranowski was born in 1900 and grew up in Krakow, Poland. His father wanted him to become an accountant, and Jan did exactly that. But the stress of the work caused serious and chronic stomach problems, so he left accounting and joined the family tailoring business.

Jan was extremely introverted. He loved being hidden. He loved being alone. It suited him perfectly to work quietly in the back room of the tailor shop. Then came the moment that changed his life. In 1935 he heard a priest preach, "It is not difficult to be a saint." Jan believed him. He committed himself to three things: First, to meditate on the Word of God every day and make a concrete resolution. Second, to receive Jesus frequently in the Eucharist and in Confession. Third, to study the Catholic faith, especially St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.

Then he created a plan of life. After all, if you want to reach a destination, you need a map. What Jan did not know was that God was preparing him for a mission that would change the world.

Four

His Mission and Its Fruit

During World War II, the parish of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Dębniki was entrusted to the Salesians. On May 23rd, 1941, the Gestapo arrested the Salesian priests and sent them to Dachau. Eleven would die there. Before they were taken away, they entrusted the formation of the young men of the parish to Jan Tyranowski. Think about that. Not to a priest. Not to a religious. To an introverted tailor.

What did Jan do? He identified the leaders among the young adults. Invited them to his apartment where they prayed the Rosary and he taught them how to go deeper in their faith. Then he sent them out two by two to start their own Living Rosary Groups with other young adults.

Among those young men was a university student named Karol Wojtyła. Jan chose Karol to lead one of the Living Rosary groups. He introduced him to St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and St. Louis de Montfort. He personally formed him in prayer and the interior life. He helped him discern God's call. Karol later admitted that without Jan Tyranowski there was a strong possibility he would never have become a priest.

That young man became Pope St. John Paul II.

John Paul would bring the Gospel to 129 countries and do more to renew the Catholic faith than perhaps anyone since St. Paul. One introverted layman invested in one young person. And the whole world was changed.

Five

The Formula That Changes the World

There is a beautiful painting above the relics of Jan Tyranowski. With one hand Jan is inviting you to join him. In that same hand is a Rosary connected to the hand of the young Karol Wojtyła. Karol is inviting you into the light of God. That image contains the secret used by Pauline Jaricot and Jan Tyranowski. It is very simple. First, commit to praying the Rosary every day. Second, commit to build a deep friendship with a small group of family members or friends. Third, invite them to pray the Rosary with you and have some good conversation after.

Help one another become saints. This is how Pauline renewed France. This is how Jan formed Pope John Paul II. God renews the world through saints. But saints do not start out that way. They are ordinary people like Pauline Jaricot and Jan Tyranowski who commit themselves to friendship with Jesus and friendship with others. The world is renewed by saints. How about you?

It is not difficult to become a saint.

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