My dear sister Růženka,
Fifty-six years ago today, I was ordained a priest in Olomouc. It was also a Sunday, because previously, ordinations took place on the feast of St. Cyril and Methodius, but during the war it was moved to Sunday. It is the feast of the Visitation, which was established in Bohemia. It is a feast of meeting. Meetings on a deeper level – not just superficial – are a grace. Through these long years, I have met so many people, both superficially and deeply. Many meetings endure, even if only in writing as with you.
After all, when I am weak, then I am strong. Next Sunday, I want to preach about this. The Church must lose much today. It will be small, it must start anew. It will lose privileges in society. But it will be much stronger because it will be the Church of Christ. There, people will feel that God is alive within it. A similar truth applies to orders and congregations. (…)In love, I carry you before the Lord!
Fr. Vladimír
(Fr. Vladimír Koudelka OP /1919–2003/, correspondence, letter dated July 2, 2000)
