The life of Josef Engling offers much consolation and encouragement to the suffering Church. Called to active duty during World War I, he was forced to abandon his studies at minor seminary and enter the life of a soldier. He had been under the spiritual direction of Father Josef Kentenich. Through their time together, Josef had dedicated himself to the Blessed Mother and the daily spiritual practices of their Marian sodality. These included the “spiritual daily order,” a written list of habits and character formation. Keeping the spiritual daily order became the bedrock of Josef’s life at the front. Without physical access to mass and confession, Josef placed himself contemplatively in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament and made extensive examinations of conscience.
The following is an excerpt from Joseph Engling, by Father Alex Menningen.
On November 16 they received the order to enlist. After three tense weeks the day was coming. School books were abandoned. Personal belongings were packed and sent home. Joseph had already made spiritual provision for the new situation. Knowing that he would not be able to make his regular weekly confession, he resolved to make a mini-recollection-day every Sunday. He would review and renew his resolutions and particular examination then and determine the state of his spiritual growth. When he kept this recollection day, he would make note of it in his diary. It would also be the best opportunity to write to his spiritual director. He chose Sunday because he wanted to keep the Lord’s Day holy, and he knew that on the front weekdays and Sundays would look very much alike. Just before he left for the army he added four special resolutions to his list form the year before. He would especially renew them every Sunday:
I want to strive with still greater strength for sanctity.
I want to be a physical guardian angel for my fellow sodalists in the army.
Never tell a lie!
I want to keep Sunday holy.
He made one further adjustment to the program. It was his practice to make Holy Mass and Holy Communion the center of each day. That was where his striving for his personal ideal had its deepest roots. But in the army he would not be able to attend Mass daily. He needed a different solution. Instead of being physically present at daily Mass he would have to be spiritually present. He would spiritually attend Mass every day and receive Communion in spirit. With these adjustments his spiritual daily order looked like this:
Morning prayer
Sodality prayers
Spiritual attendance at Holy Mass
Spiritual communion
Good intention
Holy hour in the shrine
Decade of the rosary
Night prayer
Asking God’s blessing
Act of perfect contrition.
He planned to check these points off in writing every night, and make a note as to whether he had kept his particular examination.
…
Looking back over the first four weeks of spiritual life in the barracks Joseph had to conclude: Exteriorly life may have changed dramatically since leaving Schoenstatt [Germany], but his interior life had remained the same. The first thorough examination of conscience as a soldier reawakened in Joseph all his determination to reach for his ideals. Even army life could be used to become a modern saint! As his personal ideal demanded, each day’s sacrifices had to be a contribution to the capital of grace of the Mother Thrice Admirable and her work.
Joseph put away his blue notebook and began to write a few letters. The first one was to his friend Karl Klement. He missed him in Hagenau. How much he longed for deeper discussions about the spiritual life! Of course he had many Schoenstatt friends here, and they talked. But their conversation rarely turned to deeper spiritual matters. Everyone was so tired. It made thinking hard and when they had a little time in the evening the conversation just never went the way Joseph longed for. He felt this pang so deeply that he mentioned in his letter to Karl:
“Only one thing is missing—a friend with whom I can share everything, everything I have, including my joys and sorrows, a friend for whom I would walk through fire and who would walk through fire for me. My heart has longed for such a friend here many times, but so far I have not found one. But one person always remains loyal to us if we only remain loyal to her: Our Mother.”