He Leadeth Me: An Extraordinary Testament of Faith

by Walter J. Ciszek

I wasn’t out to convert anybody, but those themes were my contributions to the discussions that arose spontaneously about the meaning of life and of humanity, about brotherhood and a sense of dedication to work for a better life, about evil in the world and morality, about freedom and peace. If I didn’t make believers out of anyone in the course of these rambling conversations, I at least presented them with an alternative to the party line and the doctrines they had heard and come to believe and sometimes question. I offered another answer at least to the questions that troubled them, and made them aware that for those of us who believed, at any rate, there was a meaning to man and his existence here on earth that went beyond the purely human and material. It wasn’t a matter of telling them that I had all the answers and they had all the questions and problems; I was trying to show that the doubts and the longings expressed, the inner stirrings of their hearts and souls, came from a spirit in man that was natural but more than material. I echoed Saint Augustine’s saying that man’s heart was made for God alone and it is restless until it comes to rest in him. Nor was it a question of my giving long sermons or explanations of the Church’s doctrine or the Creed or salvation history—as the above synopsis might make it seem—for the evenings were filled with questions and counterquestions, with arguments and rebuttals, with explanations that led to further thoughts and question...

A beautiful example of walking with one person in honest discourse and respect.