Day 6: Divine Mercy

Monday, March 11, 2013

            Ok, short entry because I am very tired.  We spend this morning at the Divine Mercy Shrine.  There was a light drizzle, but it was beautiful outside.  A sister took us to the basilica and told us about St. Faustina, their order, and the Divine Mercy.  She was so good, very simple and understandable, but also profound and powerful.  After her talk, we went up in the lookout tower.

Talking with Sister

View from the lookout tower

The gift shop...I went a little crazy here...

One of the buildings on the grounds, poster of St. Faustina on the side

            From there, we went and had lunch, did a little shopping, and wandered around the city for a short while.  At lunch, I had a giant bowl of sauerkraut and sausage.  I think I’ve had enough sauerkraut for my whole life!  That stuff is intense, not something to eat in large quantities.  But, it was definitely authentic Polish food, so I was happy.

            During the afternoon, we went and toured the Wawel Castle.  We went through the Cathedral, the royal tombs, bell tower, and museum on a guided tour.  I am too tired to think of great details right now, I apologize.  I’ll try to supplicate this poor entry with pictures!

            We went to Mass at the Divine Mercy chapel at 5pm.  The sisters that belong to the same order as St. Faustina did that live in the convent on the grounds were there too!  So so beautiful.  St. Faustina’s remainsare there in a reliquary under a large Divine Mercy image.  What a blessing to be able to pray there!

            Back at the apartment, fairly early, we all pitched in to make a traditional Polish family dinner and then had a family game night, which was loud and hilarious.  And now I must go to bed or I will fall asleep here at the table.

Making dinner

Day 5 (Continued): Mass in a Castle, Salt in the Mines, and Chocolate for Dinner

Sunday, March 10

        I love Poland.  It is really cold, but I still love it here.  The country is beautiful, the people are genuine and friendly, the culture is rich and Catholic.  Today, we went to Mass in the Cathedral…which is part of a castle!!  It was very different than any Italian churches I’ve been in, very medieval (I think), with statues of knights and kings.  It’s decorated with a lot of gold, not so many mosaics as in Rome.  St. Stanislaus is buried in the Krakow cathedral.  Mass was beautiful.  An outstanding choir sang, and the long Polish homily provided for a good time of reflection and meditation.

Wawel Castle

After Mass, we went to a museum dedicated to Blessed John Paul II in the house he lived in when he was bishop of Krakow.

JPII with a kangaroo, haha

Papal cassock and shoes

JPII's kayak!!

John Paul II's personal chapel in his apartment when he was Archbishop of Krakow

We also did some shopping at the Polish market that morning.

Polish Market

One of my classmates purchased this wonderful hat

We went on a tour of the salt mines this afternoon, about half an hour outside of Krakow.  I know what you’re thinking—salt mines?  Big woop.  Well, that’s what I was thinking anyway.  However, I changed my mind when I saw this:

            EVERYTHING IS MADE OUT OF SALT.  You could lick the walls!  I did!  They were salty indeed.  The miners sculpted all these beautiful statues and carved incredibly intricate floors (some even taking two years to finish!) in the mines because they knew the person of Christ crucified and wanted a place to pray down in the mines.  Amazing!  After all their regular work, carrying 50kg of salt on their backs all day while doing intense, life-threatening labor, they love Jesus so much, they put careful, delicate, long, hard work into creating grand chapels.  Wow.

            This evening, we met two Polish University students who took us to a chocolate factory!  Did I mention I love Poland and Polish people?  They were so great.  We spent at least two hours with them.  Peter and Olah (from the Polish name equivalent to the English ‘Alexandria’) study in Krakow.  They are also both in scouts.  Talking with us, they got to practice their English and we got to learn a lot about Polish culture and our new friends.  I talked to Peter a lot about scouts and university.  He is studying mechanical engineering and dreams of one day driving on the Indy 500 track.  He loves Indy car racing!  I found that kind of funny.  I will probably send him a post card when I get back to Indiana.

My roommate, pouring her chocolate tea!  Why have I never thought of chocolate tea before?  It was so good!

            After having chocolate for dinner and making new Polish friends, we were all exhausted and came back to the apartment and went to bed, which is where I am headed after I finish this post (which I have to write sitting on a stool in the bathroom because people are sleeping in my bedroom).

            Also, we all cannot stop talking in our Polish family accent now.  Seriously!  AND we found long lost family cousin in salt mine working as tour guide…you had to be there…

Day 5: All Aboard the Hogwarts Express!

Sunday Morning, March 10

            Good morning!  I got up early again but then I woke people up, so I felt bad and just went back to bed.  Breakfast is in seven minutes, so let’s see what I can get written in that time.

(Writing about Saturday, March 9)

            Our train took us to Czestochowa where we visited the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa.  Our Lady of Czestochowa is a miraculous image of Mary.  Tradition holds that it was painted by St. Luke the Evangelist.  Many miracles have been attributed to Our Lady of Czestochowa’s intercession.  Those who make a pilgrimage to the shrine are not going to worship the image or ask a picture for a miracle.  They go to ask Mary, the Mother of God, to intercede, to pray, for them.  The image honors Mary and is very important to the people of Poland.  Through this image and the devotion it has inspired, Mary has protected many and healed many by her intercession.  We prayed at the image and attended Mass at the shrine.

Approaching the shrine.  It's in the middle of a castle town.

Inside the shrine, the image is through the grate

Leaving the shrine

            Then, we were back on the Hogwarts Express!!  This time, the train took us to Krakow in a bout 2½ hours.  We passed the time praying, developing details about the Polish family we had created (speaking in our maybe-not-even-Polish accents all the while, of course), and playing twenty questions.  And making a grocery list!

Waiting for our train.  We practiced some ballroom dancing to pass the time.

            When we got into Krakow, we went grocery shopping ot buy all the (cheap) delicious Polish foods!  The apartment we are staying in here has a kitchen, so we’ll cook two of our meals everyday, hence the grocery shopping.  The apartment belongs to some nuns.  The one who came to the gate to let us in when we arrived is probably the tiniest nun in the world!  She doesn't even come up to my shoulder!

Arriving in downtown Krakow, late Saturday night

The girls' room in the apartment

Day 4: Polish Generosity

Saturday Evening, March 9, 2013

            After another full day in Poland, it is once again time (or past time, really) for bed.  But first, I will give a “quick” overview of the day.  I will try to be brief.  We’ll pick up where I left off: breakfast.  Our host mom made us a lovely breakfast.  I had never had hot milk with cereal before, but it was really yummy!  My host mom gave me a nice box of chocolates AND a giant chocolate bar for our group.  AND she gave me a hug and a cheek *kisskisskiss*, traditional polish greeting.  So much love.  Again, I was floored and humbled by Polish hospitality.  She and one of the other host moms dropped us off at the station.  They gave their winter hats to me and the other people who didn’t bring hats.  The son of one of our host moms came with us to show us how to get to the train station.  Again, so kind!!

Sporting the gifted hat, holding the gifted chocolate

            We got on the train and began the two-hour journey to Czestochowa (pronounced chest-a-hoe-va).  The train cars were like the ones in Harry Potter!  We were practically on the Hogwarts Express.  It was very exciting.  Conveniently, there were eights seats to a car, so we all fit in one cabin!  Let the fun times begin!  While on the train, we realized how much we missed our host families already, so we decided to make up our own Polish family.  It was then that the Polski family was born!  Meet the family: Papa Maple (grandpa), Bobska (grandma), Shna Shna (mom), Nishcola aka Kremumfki (big sister, this is me), Stanislaus aka Rogi (big brother), Baby Maurishka (baby), Aunt Maurisha, and Uncle Sergi aka Slorgak.  We spent the train ride inadvertently developing our characters in speaking in what probably weren’t actually Polish accents.  It was so funny…and stuck for the rest of the trip.  You had to be there.

All of us (except me, behind the camera) in our train car!

            Ok, it’s late, so I’m going to go to bed now.  Tomorrow morning, I will finish this, tell you about the shrine, the train ride to Krakow, grocery shopping, and our arrival/dinner in Krakow.  Buona notte!...oh wait, that doesn’t work here, I’m not in Italy anymore!

Day 3: Encountering Two Prisoners of Auschwitz

Saturday morning, March 9

            Goooood morning!  I had a dream last night that the Polish currency exchange rate also applied to time.  The exchange rate is about four zloty to one euro.  So, when I woke up at 5am this morning, I thought, “Oh, I don’t have to be up until 6am, but since we’re in Poland, I have more time, four minutes for every minute.”  Hahaha.  I didn’t realize how ridiculous this was until I got up at 5:45am and found that only 15 minutes passed before it was 6am.  Heehee…

            It’s quiet, peaceful, early in the morning, and snowing outside.  I’m sitting by a window, writing.  I feel so blessed, what a beautiful gift!

            Now, getting back to yesterday, Friday.  Thanks to our nice stranger friend at the train station, we made it onto the correct train and to Niepokalanow.  Meanwhile, it had started snowing!  We made the pilgrimage to Niepokalanow because that’s where St. Maximillian Kolbe lived most of his religious life and where he was arrested.  The town there actually came to be because of him.  It was built around the chapel and house for the religious borthers that St. Maximillian built there.

Niepokalanow

            St. Maximillian Kolbe was a Franciscan friar of the Immaculate.  He joined the brothers when he was only 19 years old.  The man was brilliant (he had his first doctoral degree at age 21!).  During WWII, he was arrested and taken to Auschwitz.  When one of the men in his block escaped, the Nazis chose ten men to sentence to death in the starvation bunker.  One of the men chosen began desperately pleading for his life because he had a wife and children.  St. Maximillian stepped forward and offered to take his place.  The Nazis, astonished, accepted the switch.  Fr. Maximillian lived fourteen days in the starvation bunker, all the while praying and singing, comforting and encouraging those dying with him.  At the end of fourteen days, he was killed by lethal injection.

We went through a museum where we learned about Fr. Maximillian’s entire life.  Most people only know of his final heroic act, but his whole live was lived with the same virtue.  We saw some of St. Maximillian’s personal belongings, his bed and desk, the room he was arrested in, and the blue and white striped pajamas he wore in the concentration camp.  We ended our pilgrimage there by praying a rosary in the chapel, the first building in Niepokalanow, built by Maximillian and his religious brothers.

St. Maximilian's bed 

St. Maximilian's desk             

The striped pajamas St. Maximilian wore in Auschwitz

            We hopped on the train again and headed back to our host family for dinner.  Their daughter met us at the train station, took us to Mass, then to her house.  She had just returned that day from studying abroad in Italy!  Did I mention how incredible Polish hospitality is?!  Speaking of which, dinner was great!  We had pierogis.  They were so good, and so Polish!  I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat the “pierogis” in the states again without passing great judgment on them.

            After dinner, we went to a talk given by Wanda Półtawska.  She was one of Blessed Pope John Paul II’s best friends!  She would go hiking in the mountains with him and he would go on family vacations with her family and another family.  She was with John Paul II as he was dying and would read to him everyday, usually from Polish literature and poetry.  This woman, who is 92 years old, survived Auschwitz and two rounds of cancer.  She spoke a lot about John Paul II’s theology of the body and how he would often have meetings with troubled couples and teach them about the beauty of theology of the body and how that would solve their problems.  She didn’t talk to much about her personal relationship with Blessed John Paul II, but she wrote a book, I’m Afraid of My Dreams, about her struggles coming from a concentration camp.  I think there is more about her personal friendship with John Paul II in it.

            Exhausted, we returned to our respective host families…where they fed us MORE!  I stayed up until around 11:30pm, talking with the couple’s fourteen-year-old son.  He told me about Poland, his school, things he does for fun.  Even this fourteen-year-old boy was so kind and hospitable!  He was patient with me when I didn’t understand his English and so humble in his willingness to converse with me even though his English wasn’t perfect.

            Ok, this post has gotten super long, must stop!  Time for breakfast, then off to…

Day 2: Jerzy Popieluszko

Friday, March 8

            Polish people have a saying about hospitality: when a guest comes, God comes.  They really live this!  Polish people have been the most hospitable people I’ve ever met, whether it’s the host family I’m staying with or a stranger on the street who speaks no English, everyone is generous, patient, and kind.  You will see this throughout today’s (and probably the whole week’s) blog post(s).

            Today, after an incredible, big, homemade breakfast from our host family, our group (there’s 8 of us) set out on our own to the Church where Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko served during his life and where he is now buried.  Who is Blessed Jerzy?  He’s a Polish martyr from the 1980s who was killed by the secret police.  Fr. Jerzy was just a simple priest carrying out his duties.  He reached out to all kinds of people and all kinds of people came to him.  He spoke the truth and lived the faith.  Because of this, the secret police kidnapped him, beat him terribly, cut out his tongue, put him in a plastic bag with rocks tied around his ankles, and threw him in the river.  He loved the Polish people so much that he gave his life up to give them hope and the truth!  Also, this man was a regular dinner guest at our host family’s house.  He ate at the same table we did!!  Blessed Jerzy is an incredible, simple, contemporary saint.  AND they’re making a movie about him!

            At the church, we found an English-speaking preist who invited us into a little dining room for tea, coffee, and pastries.  He brought out a GIANT plate of pastries a sister had made and told us we had to eat all of them!  Hey, we’re pilgrims, we have to accept charity, right? ;)  There was also a sister there who spoke English.  She had been in the US for 25 years and just came back this winter.  She gave us a tour of the museum of Blessed Jerzy Popieluszka.  What a blessing for our group!

Dining room where we enjoyed the lovely hospitality of the priest and sister at the church

Picture of a picture of Jerzy

The motto of the museum and those devoted to Bl. Jerzy is, "The Cross has become a gate for us."
This is the entrance to the museum.

Our group, praying at the tomb of Blessed Jerzy

            After Jerzy, we had to figure out how to take the train to Niepokalanow.  We had no idea, so we asked a man standing around if he knew English.  He said no, but proceeded to help us anyway, walking us everywhere we needed to go, talking to people in Polish for us, and writing down information and directions.  SO NICE! 

            Ok, I have to go to bed now, falling asleep, will finish in the morning.

Day 1: Ciao Roma, Jen Dobre Warsaw!

Thursday, March 7

Whew!  What a day!  I started the day waking up at 6:00am in Roma and am ending it writing this blog-to-be at 11:57pm.  Since I don’t have my computer or internet access, I decided to write my blogs for each day down with the intention of posting them all later.  If you’re reading this now, you know that intention has become a reality.

            So, obviously, I began my Poland pilgrimage today.  The entire day has been one miracle after another!  We started the morning by leaving the villa at 6:30am for St. Peter’s to go to a Mass being said on the tomb of Blessed John Paul II.  This would be a great way to start out our Poland pilgrimage, since John Paul II is from Poland.  We didn’t have our own priest to say Mass for us, so we were planning on just asking if we could attend with whichever group happened to be there.  We got there and found out that there was going to be a Mass in French at 8am.  Great, it’s Mass on John Paul II’s tomb, it’s all good.  So we waited…and waited…and waited…and waited until it’s around 8:45am.  Still no priest.  Suddenly, a Dominican priest THAT I KNOW walked by the altar.  He walked away.  I waited for five more minutes then decided to try to track him down and ask him to celebrate Mass for us.  I found him walking out of the sacristy, prepared to celebrate Mass.  I got his attention, reminded him who I was (he remembered me!), and asked him if he would say Mass for us on the altar over John Paul II’s tomb.  It turned out that was exactly what he was on his way to do!!  Deo gratias!!  Mass was in English and the whole homily was about Blessed John Paul II.  What a perfect way to begin our pilgrimage.

            After Mass, we celebrated the Lord’s generous little miracle with 30-cent pastries.  Yum!  I ran some errands and got back to the villa with 30 minutes to eat, pack, and laminate something.  All of that was accomplished in the allotted amount of time.  Praise God.

            My flight to Poland was good.  The plane was pink and purple!  Funny.  I just slept and rested the whole two and a half our flight.  It was nice, and much needed!

            Poland is beautiful!  We landed in Warsaw and took a bus to the city center where we walked around for an hour or so.  It’s very different from Rome, less people, wide streets, clean public areas, and more….  We stopped in a few churches.  One of the churches had Chopin’s heart entombed in it.  When he was alive, he said he “left his heart in Warsaw;” when he died, they took him literally, chopped out his heart, and took it to Warsaw.  Be careful what you wish for…

Downtown Warsaw

Downtown Warsaw

Church with Chopin's heart in it (see inscription on the pillar on the left 

Downtown Warsaw

            We had a delicious homemade dinner by one of our host families.  They have a giant dog that runs 20km everyday.  The host family I’m staying with tonight is SO sweet.  Well, more tomorrow.  I’m exhausted!!