Santia Szymkowiak was born in Poland in 1910. Her parents gave all five of their children a good upbringing in the faith as well as in school, and from an early age the ever-joyful Santia began developing a devotion to the Blessed Mother, as well as an interest in serving others, especially the poor. During a pilgrimage to Lourdes when she was 24, she offered herself to the Blessed Mother, and two years later she entered the Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of Sorrows. During the Nazi occupation of World War II, Santia was forced to care for German soldiers and French and English prisoners of war. She cared for everyone with equal love and tender care until she died from tuberculosis at 32.
CHALLENGE
Blessed Santia Szymkowiak wrote in her diary: “To give yourself to God, you have to give yourself to the point of totally losing yourself… God is everything, I am nothing. I have to become a saint at all costs. This is my constant preoccupation.” Today, prayerfully reflect on this question: Are you preoccupied with being a saint at all costs, no matter what it takes?
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