(for the 100th anniversary of the birth of Fr. Metoděj Minařík, O.Carm.)
Fr. Gorazd Cetkovský, O.Carm.
This August marked the centenary of the birth of Fr. Metoděj Minařík, O.Carm. He was the last living Carmelite of the pre-war period, and the Carmelite community in our country owes its survival during the period of totality and even its growth to him. Next September, we will commemorate the tenth anniversary of his death. Therefore, we have prepared an exhibition about his life, which is and will be on display in the cloister of the pilgrimage site in Vydří for the coming months. We reflected on his legacy on June 16 of this year during the nationwide pilgrimage of the Third Order in Kostelní Vydří. Now I would like to return to this topic on the pages of our magazine and again consider what spiritual impulses the commemoration of these anniversaries and the personality of Fr. Metoděj may mean for us.
Let us briefly refresh our memory about the facts of his life. Fr. Metoděj was born on August 20, 1912, in Slavičín and was given the name František at baptism. He spent the first 14 years of his life in his birthplace. He had four siblings and was the youngest. His father died when František was twelve years old. From 1926, František studied at the Archbishop's Gymnasium in Kroměříž. There, through reading the History of the Soul, he became acquainted with St. Therese of Lisieux, and thanks to another book, also with St. John of the Cross. Influenced by this reading, he decided to enter the Carmelite order. He was not deterred by the fact that there was only one Carmelite monastery in our country – at the other end of Moravia in Kostelní Vydří – and that the novitiate had to be completed abroad. He entered the monastery immediately after graduation (in 1933), began the novitiate at the end of the year in the Bavarian town of Straubing, then spent five years in the monastery in Bamberg, studying theology. During this time, he made his final vows in the order. After being ordained a priest and completing his studies, he came to the community in Kostelní Vydří.
He lived at this pilgrimage site until 1950, when he was arrested and transferred to a concentration monastery in Želiv, where he spent five years, assigned along with others to various manual labor tasks. After his release in the autumn of 1955, he could not act as a priest, sought employment, and eventually began working as a storekeeper and later as an accountant in the Retirement Home in Albrechtice over Orlicí, where the state authorities allowed him to serve the community of sisters there as a substitute spiritual leader. When he could retire in 1973, he moved to the Retirement Home in Štěkeň near Strakonice, to the sisters of the Mary Ward Institute, where he could continue his priestly service without being required to hold a civil job.
In the summer of 1968, together with his two confreres, Fr. Prokop Valena and Fr. Melichar Karásek, he was able to travel to Rome and participate in the general chapter of the order, meeting freely with superiors and brothers from abroad. Thus encouraged, the brothers attempted, upon their return to the homeland despite the adverse conditions of the totalitarian regime, to “quietly establish a male and female Carmel among us.” Gradually, Fr. Metoděj was left with this task alone. Fr. Prokop Valena died in 1971, and Fr. Melichar Karásek, who was the pastor in Kostelní Vydří, only supported him with sympathy. During the following two decades, Fr. Metoděj secretly accepted several priests and seminarians into the order. Several women whom he spiritually guided made their vows as Carmelite sisters to him. He held meetings with the community of the Third Order.
In 1984, the general curia of the order secretly established a new administrative unit in Czechoslovakia: the “general delegation,” whose head – the delegate of the general prior for our country – was appointed Fr. Metoděj. From 1985, he moved to Dobrá Voda near Nové Hrady with the sisters from Štěkeň.
During the restoration of free religious life after the social upheaval in 1989, due to his age, Fr. Metoděj decided to continue living at Dobrá Voda. However, through prayer, correspondence, visits, and advice, he supported brothers and sisters in their efforts for a sincere spiritual and religious life. In the summer of 1999, he moved to the monastery in Kostelní Vydří. Although increasing difficulties of age led him to this move, and he needed help from others, the community of brothers perceived him as a great support. After a stroke and a subsequent two-day stay in the hospital, he died on September 19, 2003.
This is a brief overview of his biographical data. We hope to publish them in more detail at some point. Now, I would like to focus primarily on the inspiration and encouragement I see in Fr. Metoděj's life testimony.
A very important value that undoubtedly came from his family was the deep humanity, empathy, and sensitivity with which he approached life. This earned him the hearts of others on a natural level. Closely tied to this was his humility and a kind of fundamental submissiveness, which manifested itself in many forms. (The term submissiveness seems most apt to me, but I try to avoid foreign words.) Related to this was his eagerness to learn – whether about school subjects, languages, or, just as importantly, life wisdom and the art of spiritual life. He respected authority and valued others greatly. He took them seriously and listened to them carefully. It was somewhat embarrassing for us, the younger and ambitious ones, in the monastery when, in the last months of his life, attended by caretakers in a wheelchair and practically blind, after some lengthy communal sitting with a guest, Fr. Metoděj humbly asked the brother who was taking him back to his room: “Who was that?” He had sat quietly the whole time listening, not wanting to interrupt… This quality of his also manifested itself in his ability to be enthusiastic about life with God, following the example of Carmelite saints, responding to God’s call, and becoming a religious and a priest. He accepted the education he received in German monasteries with full integrity; throughout his life, he strove for a life truly dedicated to God: modest, spiritual, permeated with prayer, attentive to priestly service, deepened by study, disciplined, ascetic… Without exaggeration, we can say that he fell in love with Carmel – as a spiritual path and as a community encompassing both canonized saints and non-canonized teachers of spiritual life, as well as those who today create the community of Carmel in an earthly dimension. This love burned within him throughout his life, and he was always eager to speak of it, share it, and win others to it.
However, he did not just encounter ideals. He faced his own weaknesses: he did not have good health, was aware of his introverted nature, and experienced (although he liked and played volleyball well) a considerable impracticality; all of this instilled fear in him about how he would manage his priestly ministry… But he also encountered the environment in which he found himself. At that time, Kostelní Vydří was neither much of a monastery as it was rather a rural parish. Moreover, his prior and closest confrere, Fr. Prokop Valena, was an exceptionally gifted man (a preacher, singer, organist, organizer, joker, director of amateur youth theater, etc.). He could instantly take charge of the situation, reach out to others and persuade them, capture the attention of restless children, gain popularity, and so forth. In comparison, Fr. Metoděj felt his various inadequacies even more clearly.
The humbling he occasionally faced from the extroverted but kind-hearted prior was perhaps not as painful as the feelings of his own inadequacy. Certainly in connection with his own struggles, Fr. Metoděj emphasized in his sermons and spiritual guidance the trust in God and the courage to walk the path He puts us on. However, this mentioned submissiveness of his did not at all manifest itself when it came to spiritual ideals. He did not relent from them, even when he saw that he was not achieving them himself, nor when he saw that those around him were not reaching them either. As much as he could, he remained faithful to them on his own, without breaking or putting pressure on others regarding their stance through his own dissatisfaction or irritability.
When we turn our attention to Fr. Metoděj's spirituality, let us first mention his obedience to the Church and its authorities: the pope and bishops, and in the order, superiors. He accepted their statements or positions as guiding lights. He also had reverence for the authority of the saints and their spiritual experiences. This trait is again related to his submissiveness. It was not superficial. He wanted to be a genuine Christian and a genuine Carmelite.
Regarding his love for the Carmelite spiritual tradition, we have already mentioned. He had a great love for the Virgin Mary. He loved to preach about her, enjoyed quoting the phrase “Carmelus totus marianus” (Carmel is entirely Marian), wrote a booklet on Marian Dogmas, and made pilgrimages to Marian pilgrimage sites… He had a picture of the image of the Virgin Mary from Kostelní Vydří on his desk throughout his life. When he preached or spoke about the Virgin Mary in old age, it was wise to pay close attention to him – he completely lost track of time and could speak for a long time. This was something to take into account. Another important aspect of his spirituality was respect for the Holy Spirit. He gratefully recalled that some significant events in his life were associated with Pentecost or the reverence for the Holy Spirit. He carefully studied the six-volume edition of notes on the mystical graces of St. Magdalena de’ Pazzi, a Carmelite who greatly honored the Holy Spirit. Because of this ardor for the Holy Spirit, she was a beloved saint of Fr. Metoděj. Referring to the statements and experiences of the great saints of Carmel was second nature to him. From St. Therese of Lisieux, he learned to emphasize love, on a trusting relationship with Jesus. The tradition of the Touraine reform led him to a fervent effort to continually experience God's presence, to live with an awareness of God's closeness.
In one of his letters, he briefly summarized the teaching on spiritual life as follows:
“The entire life, especially the spiritual life, is a matter of love, which arises in the supernatural life from faith. Love is personal; it is a mutual interaction of persons, a relationship with someone, contact with Him. In this case, connection with God, with Jesus Christ, with the Virgin Mary. The main goal in Carmel is: constant, current (awareness), intimate (personal, loving) connection with God. This happens mainly in prayer. All this leads to the effort to live in God's presence, that this God's presence influences all our thinking and actions, that it fills us completely.”
Since he loved books from a young age and was a shy and introverted person, he spent his time outside of work in the modest room where he lived. Besides diligent prayer, he studied Carmelite order documents and the works of spiritual authors with industrious diligence. Because he loved Carmel and believed in it, he translated documents and writings of saints, and wrote himself… His interest in spirituality and studying it was characteristic of him. But he related everything learned primarily to himself: he strove for maximum fidelity to God, for holiness, for a sincere spiritual life.
He respected not only the mystics but also the sufferers. He sensed that often mysticism and suffering are related. Besides the Carmelite saints who underwent great suffering (St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi), he also cherished Anička Zelíková, Juliána Engelbrecht, and was moved by the tragic death of a five-year-old girl, Michaelka Hauková. With simplicity, he was also interested in various apparitions of the Virgin Mary and the messages associated with them. After the fall of totalitarianism, as long as his strength allowed, he took advantage of opportunities that were previously unavailable, participating in several pilgrimages to famous Marian places, and even once to the Holy Land.
During the final decades of totality, when he associated with those interested in Carmel, when he translated and illegally copied the rule, statutes of the order, and those of the sisters, and prepared other materials which then allowed others to get to know the history and spiritual tradition of Carmel, all of which, if discovered, would have been regarded as a “thwarting of state oversight of the Church,” this does not mean that he changed in his timid nature. However, his desire to fulfill the wishes of the superiors, his love for Carmelite spirituality, and his wish to meet the needs of those longing for Carmel were stronger.
Here again, his submissiveness did not come into play. He was very concerned about not compromising on anything with the communist regime. Thus, at times, he was more decisive than necessary. He feared that he would not cooperate with the regime in any way, that he would fall into any traps. The cunning of the State Security and several interrogations, which were very unpleasant for his sensitive nature, were fertile ground for such fear and anxiety. And even though this was not unfounded fear, Fr. Metoděj did not break off his contacts, which could have endangered him if revealed. He continued to nurture the younger secret Carmelites and Carmelite sisters, tertiaries, and new interested parties.
For others in the Carmel community, his person was a symbol of Carmelite spiritual life. He taught others what he himself had learned during meetings and conversations. He put into it his conscientiousness, zeal, risking unpleasantness with the State Security or church secretaries. The gradual growth of the Carmelite brotherhood also brought with it various opinions among the younger brothers and the associated tensions. Fr. Metoděj tried in every possible way to promote reconciliation and honored each brother’s convictions, even when radicals resented his tolerance. I remember the lament of one such heated brother: “Metoděj is weak!” But without his stance, the Carmel community would be significantly impoverished today by several brothers who otherwise would have had to leave.
Thus, Fr. Metoděj cared for the Carmel community in all its growths. He did not neglect the fact that the prospects for the fall of totality and a free future were not great and that the totalitarian regime was still boasting of its power and the strength of its positions. He trusted in the power of the intercession of the Virgin Mary for the world today, in the promised victory of her Immaculate Heart. He gratefully accepted literature and correspondence from brothers abroad or visits that were rarely and secretly managed to carry out. With the loyalty and modesty characteristic of him, he also devoted himself to the barefoot Carmelite sisters, visiting them in Jiřetín, where he had a good relationship with them. But anyone interested in Carmel or simply “things of God” could turn to him. Here again, his humility came into play: no one was too ordinary for him that he would hesitate to attend to them. He was not interested in crowds, but even a single person willing to listen and be led was worth his effort.
Thus, despite his shyness, he was very popular – even if differently than Fr. Prokop Valena. His respect for the religious sisters was entirely instinctive and genuine even after years of living with groups of sisters. Like every person, he encountered various shortcomings and evils in the personal lives of people, in families, in the Church, in society. But he did not pay attention to such things, he did not speak about them. Only when he had to listen to the complaints or indignation of others did he respond to it and try to encourage them towards hope, forgiveness, reconciliation. Gratefully, he maintained good relationships with priests who came for friendly visits or for the sacrament of reconciliation. He received these friendships as a pleasant gift and absorbed the words and destinies of others into himself. He was able to be faithful to the service in the confessional (for example, in Vydří during pilgrimages) with extreme perseverance. He used confession as an opportunity to teach penitents about spiritual life, to lead them into depth.
With respect, we admired the humility with which he accepted the growing difficulties of old age, and then his willingness to return at the end of his life to the monastic community, among brothers, each of whom was at least forty years younger than him… And as I mentioned, the community regarded him as their support; he was a firm point at its center. His presence encouraged respect, authenticity, peace, genuine piety, and consideration. However, we of course only knew a small part of his inner world. Age, different life experiences, gradually also blindness, and lack of physical strength separated him from us.
When I once surprised him during a lecture for novices, which he eagerly attended, by asking him to share about his life, he initially protested noisily. So decisively that I was already losing hope for the success of my intention. Thank God, we managed to convince him that this would not be about boasting but simply about narrating how God led him through life. And then we listened to his wonderfully interesting story, which after his death became the basis for gathering further information about his life. Thank God, many older photographs were also found. In some of them, I was captivated by Fr. Metoděj's smile. Such a spontaneous smile I had not known from his face. In old age, as we could meet him, he was serious, quietly kind, and simultaneously invitingly yet reservedly smiling.
In summary, the thought that seems strongest to me when I look back over Fr. Metoděj's life could be expressed as follows: God chooses what is weak. We saw how prominent a personality Fr. Prokop Valena was. We could also speak of the wonderful priest from the Servite order, Fr. Bonfilius Wagner, who lived for several years at Dobrá Voda with Fr. Metoděj and then in the nearby Nové Hrady, and who formed a beautiful friendship with Fr. Metoděj. Fr. Bonfilius was cheerful, very popular, and made great efforts to fill the Servite monastery with new brothers. And yet, the Lord did not use these “great” men for His plans. He chose Fr. Metoděj with his timid nature, fragile health, and inner barriers. It was precisely through him that Carmel grew anew in our country.
When we sought a scripture verse for the tombstone of Fr. Metoděj, Father Vojtěch Kodet proposed a citation from St. Paul's letter: “For you do not have many fathers…” (1 Cor 4:15.) St. Paul admonishes the Corinthians that they do not appreciate the apostles and messengers of faith who bring many sacrifices for their service. He concludes: “I write not this to shame you. For even if you had ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you: be like I am!” This all fits very well into the relationship between us and Fr. Metoděj.
Even though we did not declare any "Year of Fr. Metoděj," we have resolved with our brothers that these 13 months between the two anniversaries of Fr. Metoděj, which I mentioned at the beginning, we will live more intensively, perceiving his legacy and praying for new vocations to our community. We have printed images of Our Lady of Vydří, and on the reverse side, a text of a short prayer, which I present to you now:
Mary,
Mother and Beauty of Carmel,
help us to live fruitfully
the Carmelite vocation
and to bear unpretentious,
authentic testimony to it.
Spouse of the Spirit,
ignite also in other hearts
the desire and grace
to walk in the footsteps
of great and simple
saints of Carmel.
Amen.
