To the one who conquers…I will give a white stone on which is inscribed a name that no one knows except the one who receives it.
Revelation 2:17

 

           A recent issue of the Diocesan Historical Society featured an article about a remarkable priest name Fr. Ladislau Wolko. To my surprise, we once served in the same small town, at a parish called Sacred Heart.
            Fr. Wolko came from Poland and was ordained shortly after WWII. Prior to his ordination, Fr. Wolko endured five years of torture in a Nazi concentration camp.
           Despite being only five feet tall and weighing 106 pounds, Fr. Wolko was a spiritual giant. At the county courthouse, the police station, the hospital and the employment office, Fr. Wolko fought for the rights of the migrant farm workers who made up the majority of his parishioners.  Known as the Rascal Priest, he was not well-loved by the local leadership.
           Pastors of conviction seldom are.
           Many years have passed since I served the same parish as Fr. Wolko. It is an odd feeling to realize that I once lived in the same house as a survivor of a concentration camp.  I also wonder: Did we knock on the same doors? Bless the same the fields? Preach from the same wooden pulpit?
           Were his eyes blinded, as were mine, by the light of the morning sun shining through the stained-glass window of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the back of the church? Given his courage and fortitude, dare I consider myself his brother in Christ?
            I do not recall Fr. Wolko’s name embossed on any plaque at the parish. Nor do I recall any parishioner mentioning his work or legacy. Yet, despite this lack of recognition, I am reassured by the words of the Book of Revelation, where it is written that, to those who overcome the world, God himself will give a white stone engraved with a secret name, a mythic name, a name known only to God and the one who receives it.
           On the day I stand before the throne of God, will I receive such a gift? If, by the grace of God, I do, I can only hope the secret name might sound a bit like rascal.

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