Under Father Maximilian’s spiritual leadership, the friars of Niepokalanow and Mugenzai no Sono had incredible success in their press apostolate. Their secret for success was a community life of prayer centered on the Eucharist. In the mid-1930s, when the friars of Niepokalanow were about to inaugurate their first newspaper, the Maly Dziennik (Little Journal), they had formidable opponents in the secular press of Poland. For nine days, the friars prayed day and night before the Blessed Sacrament. The newspaper venture met with a tremendous success. Years later, Father Maximilian initiated a program of daytime adoration of the Eucharist at Niepokalanow. This began on December 8, 1939, the day on which Father Maximilian and the friars were released from a three-month imprisonment by their Nazi captors. He immediately introduced adoration of the Eucharist in order to increase his “active forces of prayer.” Every half hour, day after day, a fresh group of four friars took its place before our Lord in the tabernacle. This became the friars’ primary apostolate.
