February 8, 2024

Father Marcin Jablonski, LC: Making Christ Present at the Dakar Rally as Chaplain and Part of Winner Carlos Sainz’s Team

Originally published in Spanish at LomásRC.

 

Father Marcin Jablonski, LC, had the unique experience of joining Carlos Sainz’s team in the Dakar rally as a chaplain and motorhome driver. In addition to blessing Sainz’s Audi, which won the rally, his presence created a space for the competition to be an opportunity for a spiritual encounter. “Amid the desert and competition, my role was to be the presence of Christ,” shares Father Marcin, who celebrated daily Mass and spiritually ministered to many people, providing a space of faith in an environment of intense demands. This adventure has reaffirmed his passion for cars and has enriched his vocation as a member of a religious order and a priest, demonstrating how faith can be present in all aspects of life.

 

  • At first, they didn’t believe I was a priest until I showed them my Instagram account, where I have pictures of myself celebrating Masses.
  • It was a beautiful experience to see how people, who perhaps had never had close contact with a priest, approached with personal questions.
  • As a priest, it was not only about getting your hands dirty with others but also about passing on something more.
  • Of course, I missed my Legionary community a lot: spending 20 days in a desert without your brothers, who understand your life and the demands of religious life, is something I missed during those days. I am extremely grateful to my superiors for trusting me and seeing that behind this opportunity, there was something more, a special mission prepared by God, undoubtedly full of wonders.

Father Marcin Jablonski, LC, originally from Poland, works with Regnum Christi in Barcelona and at the Reial Monasterio de Santa Isabel school. He just spent 20 days at the Dakar Rally with Carlos Sainz’s team Audi. It has been quite an experience for him and his teammates. One of the crew in everything: collaborating in the organization of the camp, driving a motorhome, supporting with whatever was necessary… and also acting as chaplain: “I have observed that when people are faced with very human problems, and they see a priest, they automatically start to perceive these problems in a different light, contemplating the possibility that God can help them in these moments.”

Father Marcin with Daniel Gratacós, an engineer on Carlos Sainz's team and a parent at the Reial Monasterio de Santa Isabel school in Barcelona.

How did this adventure begin?

I have a passion that has always been a part of me: cars and racing. I had thought that, over time, this interest would wane, but that hasn’t been the case. In fact, my enthusiasm has increased, especially after a crucial encounter. I met Daniel, a father from the Santa Isabel school, and we had a pivotal conversation. One day, he asked about my aspirations as a young priest, and I jokingly shared my desire to be involved in Formula 1. His response was surprisingly serious. Instead of laughing, he asked me: “And why don’t you become a chaplain for a Dakar team?”

 

Instead of laughing, he asked me: “And why don’t you become a chaplain for a Dakar team?”

 

Although I was extremely excited about this possibility, I didn’t think it was feasible. Then, one day, I received a call from the Audi team. They had seen my resumé and were delighted to invite me to join them as a chaplain and a motorhome driver. This is how this great adventure began.

Father Marcin and Carlos Sainz's car.

And your work with Regnum Christi in Barcelona, ​​your superiors, your Legionary community… what was it like for all of them?

It wasn’t a given that I would receive permission to be absent from school and community life for 20 days. However, I am incredibly grateful to my superiors for trusting me and seeing that there was something more behind this opportunity, a special mission that God had prepared, undoubtedly full of wonders.

 

You were a motorhome driver and a chaplain. Can you share how the Lord has been present to you in this experience?

As part of team Audi, I joined as one of the crew, but day by day, more people discovered that I am a priest. At first, they didn’t believe me until I showed them my Instagram account, where I appeared dressed as a priest, celebrating masses. It has been a beautiful experience to see how these people, who perhaps had never had close contact with a priest, approached me with interesting questions on a personal level, even while driving the motorhome. We shared the same duties and work, traveling between 500 and 600 kilometers daily. Despite doing that work, I was still a priest, in whose presence God revealed himself and met the people I came across during the Dakar.

 

Before leaving for the Dakar, the auxiliary bishop of Barcelona, ​​Don Javier Vilanova, advised me to be humble.

 

The presence of the Lord was manifested in many ways, especially in everyday life and working with people. Before leaving for the Dakar, the auxiliary bishop of Barcelona, ​​Don Javier Vilanova, advised me to be humble, to be there as who I am and how I am, making Christ present among them. That’s what I was trying to do. Every morning, in prayer, Christ reminded me that there is work to do but, above all, to be present among those people at the Dakar.

Father Marcin with Carlos Sainz, next to the Audi.

What has it meant for your priestly vocation to find yourself in this demanding world in which sports, competition, dreams, and failures are mixed…?

Being part of the Audi team means facing everything required humanly: work, difficulties, failures, and demands. All of this creates a strong bond among all team members. Being there, participating, and facing challenges with them gave me a precious opportunity to live authentically and be who I am. As a priest, it is not only about getting your hands dirty alongside others but also about passing on something more. I have observed that when people are faced with human problems and see a priest, they automatically start to perceive these problems in a different light, contemplating the possibility that God can help them in these moments.

Panorama of the Dakar Rally camp.

How did you feel as a priest in this environment?

As ‘Marcin,’  it felt great working with the cars, preparing the bivouac for the camp, traveling many kilometers… As a priest, I felt equally good performing these tasks. However, the circumstances were indeed very extraordinary for me as a religious priest. Despite feeling comfortable in this environment, I often missed having a chapel or a quiet place where I could be with the Lord and gather strength. Of course, I also missed my community a lot: spending 20 days in a desert without your brothers, who understand your life and the demands of religious life, is something I have missed during these days. But I know that they have supported me with their prayers. The Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi also assured me of their prayers several times. Although I was the only Legionary priest there, I was not alone. I knew that the entire Regnum Christi family was supporting me worldwide, which I greatly appreciated.

 

* * *

Accompanying everyone

Father Marcin participated as chaplain of the Audi team. However, he was also able to serve other teams, such as the Spanish ALL1, with whom he shared time, prayed, and blessed their motorcycles, as you can see from minute 8:09, in the video below.

 

***

In the media

Upon returning to Spain, Carlos Sainz made several statements to the press in which he expressed his faith and mentioned the presence of a chaplain in the team who had blessed his car, which became headlines in some media. It was a Polish media outlet that revealed the identity of this priest and sparked the interest of some Spanish reporters in learning more about the history and experience of Father Marcin in the Dakar.

 

Father Marcin Jablonski, LC: Making Christ Present at the Dakar Rally as Chaplain and Part of Winner Carlos Sainz’s Team Read More »

Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Uncle Eddy

St Josephine Bakhita

Dear Sophia,

I had a feeling it would come to this.  This gives new meaning to the old term “sophomore slump”.  Do you realize your last note was the first one you wrote to me THE ENTIRE ACADEMIC YEAR!  Here’s your poor lonely uncle chomping his nails and barely keeping his sanity as he dodges ravenous ideological wolves during interrogation after interrogation, and you just keep staying aloof, refusing even to communicate.  No wonder your faith has taken a nosedive and you feel lost and confused.  Well, nothing doing.  We’ll just have to rebuild, that’s all.  Back to basics.  You can do it, my dear and intelligent niece, and you’ll be even stronger after getting back to where you should be – storms make the strong stronger, you know.  So back to basics.  And today’s saint can help.

She is thought to be the only native Sudanese saint.  That’s right, she was born to a wealthy Sudanese family but was kidnapped and sold into slavery as a young girl.  She was bought and sold multiple times, and she doesn’t even remember what her real name was (the slavers called her “Bakhita” or “fortunate one”).  Then an Italian businessman took her in, intending to free her eventually.  He was a good man, and she began to experience a peaceful life working for the family.  When they returned to Italy, she asked to come along, and they took her.  Soon she became the babysitter and fast friend of her masters’ daughter, and when the parents had to go to Suez for an extended business trip, Bakhita and the little girl went together to the Canossian Sister’s Institute in Venice.

As boarders there, they were taught the Catechism, and Bakhita learned it well.  She was amazed to have finally met the God she had long believed in, the one she “had experienced in my heart without knowing who He was” ever since she was a child. “Seeing the sun, the moon and the stars, I said to myself: Who could be the Master of these beautiful things? And I felt a great desire to see Him, to know Him and to pay Him homage…”

She was received for baptism, the happiest day of her life.  Afterward, she could often be seen kissing the baptismal font and saying, “Here I became a daughter of God.”  Her love grew so much that when her masters returned, she firmly and courageous asserted her desire to stay with the Canossian Sisters and dedicate her life to serving the God whom she had come to love.  Since she had come of age, Italian law granted her freedom, and so she stayed at the convent and spent the remaining fifty years of her life as a religious sister.  There she edified and encouraged everyone by her inextinguishable joy, her sweetness and humility of manner, and her eagerness to serve always and everywhere.

Sometimes we forget the basics, my dear niece, like what a gift it really is to have faith in the one true God, to have been adopted by him in baptism, to have received the Sacraments and be able to receive them whenever we wish… The list goes on.  Only by turning to Christ can you turn around your sophomore slump, and I hope you do, because one year out of four is a lot to lose.  Count on my prayers.

Your devoted uncle,

Eddy

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February 8, 2024 – Humility and Faith: Foundation and Cathedral

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

 

Mark 7:24-30

 

Jesus went to the district of Tyre. He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it, but he could not escape notice. Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him. She came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She replied and said to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

 

Introductory Prayer: Lord, I come before you today to learn the lessons of faith that you want to teach me. I want to learn to be patient when you test my faith. I know you want only to make it grow and bear more fruit in my life. In this prayer I desire to trust and love you as you deserve to be loved by me.

 

Petition: Lord, make my faith vibrant and persevering.

 

  1. Seek Ye Higher Gifts: Our Lord is close to us in our sufferings. In this Gospel, a daughter suffered from a demonic possession, and her mother suffered with her. What most strikes us about this passage, however, is that Our Lord initially adds to the mother’s suffering by rebuking her. It seems so out of character, so foreign to the one who is “meek and humble of heart,” so unlike the gentle Jesus who is ever sensitive to the needs of others. Yet Our Lord was about to confer upon her the greatest gift that could befall any human being: the gift of salvation represented by the healing of her daughter. Because the gift was so great, the vessel that was to contain it needed to be prepared.

 

  1. Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings: It is important to remember two principles about our feelings. First, we are not to treat them as if they were the infallible compass of our spiritual lives. Second, their lack of support does not mean that Our Lord is abandoning us. We can easily forget these two principles and blindly follow our feelings, persuasions, and seductions. We can wrongly confuse feelings with faith. This believing woman beautifully shows the attitude we must maintain. Her example of humility in the face of Jesus’ seemingly hostile rebuke truly astounds us. No rebellion, no complaints, no resentments, no pity party. She remains determinedly fixed on Christ. She maintains a spirit of humility and faith in him who has the power to deliver her daughter from the devil. Am I capable of persisting in my prayer even when it seems Our Lord is turning a deaf ear?

 

  1. A Cathedral of Faith for All To See: If only we could learn from her example! With such a firm foundation to build on, Jesus draws out of her an even greater faith—as large as a cathedral for the entire world to see. We need to ponder and contemplate the mysterious and wise ways of Our Lord when we suffer from his rebukes. We must hold fast to humility, mindful that we are creatures always loved by Christ, our Good Shepherd. He promised he would not leave us orphans. Why then such little faith?

 

Conversation with Christ: Lord, let me not confuse faith with feelings. Let me not confuse trust with mere sentiment. Never let me reduce my relationship with you to feelings, no matter how pleasurable or worthy I think they may be at that moment. Help me to remain humble in my dispositions and firm in my convictions, seeking only to trust, love and please you.

 

Resolution: When I experience pleasant, worthy, or helpful feelings, I will thank and praise God, and I will channel these feelings toward what is more relevant: living out the deeper virtue of faith.

 

February 8, 2024 – Humility and Faith: Foundation and Cathedral Read More »

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Alex Kucera

Atlanta

Alex Kucera has lived in Atlanta, GA, for the last 46 years. He is one of 9 children, married to his wife Karmen, and has 3 girls, one grandson, and a granddaughter on the way. Alex joined Regnum Christi in 2007. Out of the gate, he joined the Helping Hands Medical Missions apostolate and is still participating today with the Ghana Friendship Mission.

In 2009, Alex was asked to be the Atlanta RC Renewal Coordinator for the Atlanta Locality to help the RC members with the RC renewal process. Alex became a Group Leader in 2012 for four of the Atlanta Men’s Section Teams and continues today. Running in parallel, in 2013, Alex became a Team Leader and shepherded a large team of good men.

Alex was honored to be the Atlanta Mission Coordinator between 2010 to 2022 (12 years), coordinating 5-8 Holy Week Mission teams across Georgia. He also created and coordinated missions at a parish in Athens, GA, for 9 years. Alex continues to coordinate Holy Week Missions, Advent Missions, and Monthly missions at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Cumming, GA.

From 2016 to 2022, Alex also served as the Men’s Section Assistant in Atlanta. He loved working with the Men’s Section Director, the Legionaries, Consecrated, and Women’s Section leadership teams.

Alex is exceptionally grateful to the Legionaries, Consecrated, and many RC members who he’s journeyed shoulder to shoulder, growing his relationship with Christ and others along the way. He knows that there is only one way, that’s Christ’s Way, with others!