Ladies and gentlemen,
I do not know where you are or what you see outside the window. possibly it's a grey in November days block, or possibly a quieter streets of a tiny city. Who knows, you may even be among those fortunate people whose glass separates now from nature: the park, or possibly the forest or the mountain landscape.
Or maybe, like me, looking from the windows of our Warsaw office, you look straight at the large city skyline, skyscrapers, crowded streets, almost to the horizon of glass, steel and concrete.
This is the life of many of us today, caught in a tangle of streets, reflected in the walls of office buildings, dying in the bustle of the city. Eight, and sometimes more, hours each day at work, are frequently a time of pursuit, a rush from 1 occupation to another.
We have no another perspective.
Too often, time with the family, time for a good book, leaning over these truly crucial things.
But if we look at the city's panorama more carefully, we'll see something else: gunfire towers or scattered domes of churches. This is besides clearly seen from the windows of our office in Bank Square – among them 2 Warsaw cathedrals, St. John's Cathedral in Old Town and the Prague Cathedral of St. Florian.
The buildings that erstwhile constituted the spiritual centers of the cities are hidden in the urban landscape, but inactive attract eyesight and heart.
So present I want to invitation you to a planet where – utilizing the words of Zbigniew Herbert – there is simply a “hour of stopped clocks”, where all you can hear is “uncertain binding of whispers” and “investment to our bread”.
To know (and possibly a reminder) the beauty of cathedrals, these monumental hearts of cities, inactive marking the spiritual pulse of our civilization.
This is what we have made the cathedral the subject of our calendar for 2026.
For centuries, their importance was beyond the spiritual perspective. At the cathedrals there were schools – forerunners of today's clergy seminars – where, apart from theology, 7 liberated plays were taught: grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy.
The cathedrals were the site of coronation of European monarchs and burial of the most prominent representatives of the nation, becoming a treasurer of national continuity, identity and memory.
And although many of them present are increasingly ravaged, although their irresistible beauty becomes increasingly only a tourist attraction, they are inactive part of Europe's cultural and spiritual heritage.
The top expression of the spirit of the era, in which eyes, thoughts, and hearts were instinctively directed toward eternity. That's why this year's selection of calendar themes was rather apparent to us.
In this way, we want not only to remind you of the beauty of the cathedrals, but besides to encourage you to research their symbolism, the meaning and functions of the individual elements of the sacral architecture.
Which 1 symbolizes Mount Sinai? How do we clear space by bringing peace to it? Where are the gates to the Paradise Garden?
You will find answers to these questions in calendar “How to read cathedral”.
Of course, we do not have the chance to exhaust the subject, but I hope that our calendar will inspire you to proceed your search.
On the calendar we besides included reproductions presenting the silhouettes of cathedrals, among others in Paris, Rome or Seville.
In addition to this, we have selected all architectural component described a quote from the Scriptures to set it in the biblical context and open another space for meditation and meditation.
As all year, we besides took care of the applicable nature of our calendar. You will find marked holidays, state holidays, ecclesiastical celebrations, memories of saints and blessed ones, household holidays and a list of names.
Every year, our calendars go to hundreds of our Friends' homes. They can besides service as a applicable and elegant gift for upcoming holidays.
I warmly encourage you to order the calendar “How to read the cathedral” for yourself, your household members or friends. You can place your order through the website ♪ Rokz Family..
But that's not all. I would besides like, as all year, to invitation you to give your calendars to our people in Lithuania.
As you know, our relations in this country bear additional, beautiful fruit. In fresh years, we have helped Polish schools in Lithuania, and this year Vilnius has returned to life after more than 30 years of absence (on which, of course, we were), inspired by, among others, our Marches for Life and Family.
For Poles surviving in Lithuania our calendars are a unique form of contact with Homeland, language and tradition. A symbolic chance to keep the bonds that are crucial to them, and to pass them on to their children and grandchildren.
And besides our calendar is the only calendar available in Lithuania to find information on the course of the liturgical yearwhich is simply a very crucial aspect for many of our people.
Every year after transportation of calendars and meetings in schools and churches we receive many expressions of gratitude from Poles from Vilnius.
I repeat all time that this is possible only with financial assistance from our Friends.
The cost of printing additional effort (this year it is 15,000 copies) and delivering it to Lithuania will be nearly PLN 30 000.
I want to aid this initiative!
Finally, I would like to share 1 more thought with you.
Last Friday, close the office of ‘AboTak’, the places which its founders referred to as the first abortion clinic in Poland, we prayed a rosary during the event Zaduszko for the unborn. Our assembly was not only an expression of the memory of unborn children killed by abortion, but besides an appeal to the authorities to deviate from the current abortion course and to environment Polish families with concern and make conditions conducive to establishing families and having children.
In urban space there are besides specified places.
A place where you aid women kill their children. I will not say, “in the majesty of the law” due to the fact that it is an act against the law, but nevertheless it takes place in broad daylight, and actually in the vicinity of the Sejm.
Places where abortionists carelessly evidence videos where they dance and laugh, advertising their services.
It's a image of Western civilization today. In the distance of respective streets – the “hospital” where with diabolical joy 1 can end barely begun, innocent life and cathedral, a place of prayer, gathering with God, looking into the 1 who creates all life.
The first of these places is the fruit of our time. Times erstwhile human life is for nothing and its value is measured by efficiency, by "coming in time" or simply wanting or not wanting another person.
The second is many hundreds of years of buildings that survived the storms of past and were silent witnesses of the most tragic but besides the most beautiful stories. Places where many lives began symbolically with baptism and many ended with burial. But this life was surrounded by respect for his dignity and subjectivity.
It's up to us which of these places will last and carry on with its legacy.
Greetings.
Marcin Perłowski
Director of the Life and household Centre
