On January 5, 2012, a retired Polish teacher took her final breath in a Szczecin hospice. To the secular world, Alicja Lenczewska was an ordinary woman who had spent her life teaching handicrafts and pedagogy. Yet, she left behind two profound spiritual diaries—Testimony and Words of Instruction—that have since been evaluated by a theological commission and approved by the Catholic Church.

Her writings reveal extraordinary theological depth, offering a serious and urgent message for the modern world: Christ is alive, the spiritual battle for souls is fierce, and the call to radical conversion cannot be ignored.

From Superficiality to the Shock of Grace

Born in Warsaw in 1934, Alicja’s early life was marked by the tragedy of World War II. Her father died in 1939, and she was raised by her mother, eventually settling in Szczecin. For decades, she lived a conventional life as a teacher and deputy headmistress. By her own admission, her Catholicism was superficial.

“There were periods lasting several years when I lived outside the Church, almost completely in clear contradiction to God’s commandments,” she wrote. She travelled the world seeking meaning, goodness, and beauty, only to be met with a profound sense of emptiness.

The turning point arrived in 1984. Following her mother’s death, Alicja and her brother began attending meetings of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. She immersed herself in spiritual literature, which prepared her heart for a definitive encounter.

During a retreat in Gostyń on March 8, 1985, Alicja experienced a mystical awakening. After receiving Holy Communion, the veil of the material world seemed to lift.

“Jesus stood before me. More real, more true than everything that was in the chapel… An immensity of love so great, so unheard of, that before it one can only weep over one’s ingratitude. And then joy that He loves me. Joy bursting the heart.”

From that moment, her hierarchy of values was permanently inverted. Jesus Christ became her sole desire.

The Diaries of a Soul

At the Gostyń retreat, Alicja received the rare grace of regular mystical encounters. Jesus began giving her direct spiritual instruction, commanding her to write everything down.

“What you are writing down is so that people may understand that I want to speak to everyone,” Jesus told her. “That I am with every person, at every moment of his life.”

These writings formed her two diaries. To align her life with her newfound faith, Alicja enacted radical changes. She sold her television, giving the proceeds to charity, and purged her home of unnecessary possessions. Her daily routine became anchored in the Eucharist, Eucharistic Adoration, the Rosary, the Liturgy of the Hours, and strict fasting on bread and water on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Core Theological Themes in Lenczewska’s Writings

The theological commission that reviewed Alicja’s diaries noted their profound alignment with Church teaching. Her writings address several critical aspects of the Catholic faith:

Invisible Stigmata and Spiritual Warfare

In early 1989, Alicja’s mystical journey deepened when she received the invisible stigmata. Rather than physical wounds, she experienced the acute spiritual agony of Christ. She felt His pain over priests and believers who betray Him, who use Him for their own vanity, and who trample His blood through selfishness.

“You have received the sign of pain,” Jesus explained to her, “to make it easier for you to remain constantly in Me… This is the truth, and this is a share in My suffering of reparation and redemption.”

With this grace came intense spiritual warfare. As she compiled Words of Instruction, Alicja endured severe psychological and spiritual attacks from demonic forces. Jesus reminded her of the stakes:

• The Global Threat: Jesus warned that Satan’s new work, following the totalitarianisms of the 20th century, is to incite mutual hatred and division using ethnic, national, and religious differences.
  
• The Battle for Souls: “Oh, if you knew how great a battle is being waged, how fierce the fight for every human heart,” Jesus told her.
  
• The Weapon of Prayer: To combat demonic oppression, Jesus gave Alicja specific instructions regarding spiritual defence.
  

Spiritual Defence Directive:

“If you feel that Satan’s attacks are coming, when darkness and oppression surround your soul, immediately pray Sub Tuum Praesidium [We Fly to Thy Patronage], because it is an exorcism.”

A Prophet for the Modern Era

Following her retirement in 1987, Alicja dedicated her life entirely to evangelization. She volunteered at her local parish, took perpetual vows in the Family of the Heart of Crucified Love, and co-founded the Apostles of Pure Love.

She was deeply devoted to the messages of Fatima and Medjugorje, organizing pilgrimages and leading prayer groups. She echoed the urgent calls of the Blessed Mother for penance, warning that without conversion and a return to God, global unrest and division would only escalate.

“Nothing will be united and there will be no peace without conversion—without God,” she recorded in 1999.

“We Are Burning Up to the End”

In 2010, the mystical encounters ceased. That spring, Alicja was diagnosed with terminal kidney cancer. She faced her diagnosis not with despair, but with serene acceptance, viewing her illness as a final purifying gift from God.

By December 2011, she entered a hospice in Szczecin, desiring only to attend daily Mass and to avoid burdening her family. In her final hours, those keeping vigil witnessed her peering into eternity.

“How beautiful it is there! I saw my parents. How He loves us! I was outside time,” the dying woman whispered.

Her final words were a profound testament to a soul entirely consumed by divine love: “O Jesus, look at me. We are burning up, Jesus! We are burning up to the end! You burned Yourself up to the end. I burned myself up to the end.”

Alicja Lenczewska passed away on January 5, 2012. Her life serves as a stark, beautiful reminder to the modern Church. As she wrote in 2009, the greatest threat to the Church does not come from the secular world, but from within—from hearts that, “instead of being the heart and hands of Christ, are His Wounds.”

Through her diaries, Alicja continues to invite everyday Catholics to step out of spiritual superficiality and become the heart and hands of the Risen One.