The Befriended Enemy
by Father Gregor Lenzen, C.P.
Establishing a Passionist foundation in Germany was not Fr Viktor's idea. He had been chosen for this work by his superiors. After he had gone to Germany out of obedience, as he said, he wanted to do "the work of the Congregation", i.e. "to implant the Cross". This was what motivated him most strongly. He took on board all the accompanying difficulties and obstructions.
The motives of the men whom he encountered in the process of founding the individual monasteries were often of a quite different nature. Germany was in political and economic turmoil when the first Passionists arrived there. The "rich Americans, also the enemies of World War I" were not exactly given a sympathetic reception. If they were determined to settle down there, then at least they ought to help to create jobs and to improve the economic situation. In the meantime, in the mother province in America, people were becoming tired of the huge financial outlay and they regarded the enterprise as a failure.
In spite of pressure from all sides, Fr Viktor did not give up. And his efforts were rewarded. Before the outbreak of World War II he was able to look on a thriving, stable foundation and some promising young people. But running parallel to his development work the National Socialist movement had also flourished, from the Hitler putsch of 1923 to the seizing of power in 1933. The new rulers with their xenophobic and anti-religious decrees demolished the work that had been accomplished at great sacrifice.
After the war Fr Viktor had to start at the beginning again. Why did he do this? Why did he not simply leave the Germans to their own devices and go back to America? Why? - because he wanted to do the work of the Congregation, because he had initially come to implant the Cross on this soil and because he placed his belief in the triumph of the Cross above that of human wisdom. Furthermore, for the people he knew so well, he wanted to be what the parish priest of Schwarzenfeld had expressed as a wish to the Passionists at the consecration of the monastery: a messenger of peace and adviser and helpmate in times of spiritual need and distress.
The former enemy had come with the best of intentions and in spite of great opposition he had become a friend to many people. He was suddenly to find himself in the role of the enemy again, without really wishing to. He did not withdraw his friendship in this difficult situation and some thanked him for this by their loyalty. In a time of great danger the unwilling enemy proved his friendship and thus saved a whole town and its population.
As a priest and religious Fr Viktor did not think in terms of "friend" or "enemy". As a German-American, and as a member of an international religious community, in which all treat each other as brothers, he was not marked by any feelings of nationalism. For him it was people who mattered, and their salvation, which for him originates in the Cross of Christ. He had come to implant this Cross and in so doing had become a messenger of peace.
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