The Land of Divine Mercy

World Youth Day 2016 Reflections

July 26th, 2016 was our assigned day for the Pilgrimage of Mercy. This meant we were to meet at Blonia (B-won-ia) Park and walk to Lagiewniki (Wa-gievniki), home to the Divine Mercy Shrine and the Sanctuary of Pope St. John Paul II. Round trip this was probably about 9 miles.

This day was singular in World Youth Day history in that it took place during the Year of Mercy in the Land of Divine Mercy. Our pilgrimage was a reflection on God's inexhaustible fountain of mercy and forgiveness.

Two small little gestures fed my heart on the way.

We were praying the rosary when Lucy jumped out of the stroller ran to the side of the sidewalk and pick this flower and ran over and gave it to me. I reflected on it for quite a while, and it really melted my heart. I'm taking her to Jesus and she gives me a flower because I'm her mommy. I realized that praying the Rosary is a lot like giving Mary a flower while she points the way to Jesus. It's a sweet gesture of love.

The other one was catching two of my middle girls: 12 and 10 years old, holding hands as we walked. This is not a normal, spontaneous gesture that we see. But even the hardest road is made better when you can walk with a friend.

At Pope St. John Paul II's Sanctuary, we were able to see the bloody cassock from the assassination attempt on our beloved pope (shot 4 times point blank and survived!)



The short walk from there to the Divine Mercy Shrine was silent and prayerful due to the loud speakers reminding everyone that they were entering a zone of silence, a place of prayer.









Below is the view coming up to the altar. St. Faustina's tomb was under the image of the Divine Mercy: an image of Jesus with two rays of light coming from his heart. Those rays represent the blood and water that flowed out from his heart when it was pierced, but according to Faustina, they represent His Divine Mercy which flows on the whole world.

Sometimes we would be waiting outside of a Church for the girls to finish praying, and the Divine Mercy Shrine was one of those places.

"Take your time, girls. Take your time."

Christ's Mercy is flowing out over us always, but how often do you take the time to sit and let it wash over you?

To Light, to Guard, to Rule & Guide

World Youth Day reflections

July 25, 2016 was the day that I hired a new tour guide for my life: my guardian angel. I know that my angel has “led and guided” me my whole life, but this whole trip to Poland taught me that every “wrong turn” has something to offer.

Czestochowa

“You’re going to Czestochowa, of course.” The train conductor said it as more of a statement of fact than a question. We were making our way across Poland to Krakow via train on Sunday, July 24th, and he couldn’t help but offer his opinion. “It is the spiritual capital of Poland. Of course you must go there.” And as an aside, “I was born there.”

So the next morning we made our way back to Krakow Glowny (pronounced “Gwavna”) and made reservations for the next train to Czestochowa. It was going to leave in 20 minutes and we hadn’t eaten. After a mad rush that involved using our vouchers at the nearest Burger King, we made it on the train. We had a classic ride, Harry Potter style, in a closed compartment for just the 8 of us.  It was 2:30 when we arrived in Czestochowa and discovered that thousands and thousands of other pilgrims were also there.

The sights were incredible, but the crowds were more so. Our first attempt and entering the Basilica there was shoulder-to-shoulder. We were in there just long enough to have our breath taken away by the immensity and beauty of the church, but then we had to struggle just to get out.

I found an information booth and discovered that an English Mass was starting at that moment. Perhaps if I hurry we could join? The guide tried to show me where the particular chapel I would need to find was located. It wasn’t actually on the map because it was on a different floor. Just look around, she said. Okaaaaayyy....

So we took off, all 9 of us, and we went up stairs, around corners, down corridors, through doorways. We found a lovely adoration chapel, many rooms with beautiful art, the main chapel where the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa was on display and venerated by a thousand or more pilgrims. But no English Mass. I didn’t know what made me turn into the side room that turned out to be a sacristy. (Now I know: it was my Guardian Angel!) But my winded family strained to keep up as I realized we’d found another dead end to our search.

Then Leah saw her. “MOM! It’s Sister Maria Karol!”

Earlier this summer we hosted two lovely Nashville Dominican Sisters for our Youth Summer Mission. We discovered that Sister Maria Karol, who is from Poland, was also planning to go to World Youth Day this summer. Sister Gianna told Sister Maria Karol and I not to worry too much about meeting up in Poland. She said our guardian angels would arrange it. She was absolutely correct.

After a tearful and joyful greeting of Sister and her 12 companions, Sister turned to me and said, “We are just about to have a private Mass said for us. I have asked the priest and you can join us! Just follow us!”

This time, I could see the angels all dressed in white as they led us through arched doorways and open courtyards into another beautiful chapel. After the Mass, my Lucy said to me, “I want to be a Sister when I grow up.” She ran to tell this to Sister Maria Karol who thought she looked pretty great in a veil.

It was the second time my mother would announce, “This is my favorite day.” I wondered how many more days could possibly be this amazing, but I was ready for anything because our tour guides really knew what they were doing!

There and Back Again: A Pilgrim's Tale

Around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, August 6th, our family arrived safely home from an 18 day pilgrimage that led us to the Land of Divine Mercy: Poland.

Pilgrims from China wanted a picture with us! I wasn't sure if it was because of the tall lady, the white skinned children with light hair and blue eyes (this happened at the Grand Canyon, too!), or because there were so many children!

It would be impossible to recount the many adventures, misadventures, and spiritual experiences of this incredible event in our lives: World Youth Day 2016. Suffice it to say it will take long reflection to fully realize the fruits of such a sojourn. But since so many of you were following our journey and not so many of you were able to follow us on our Facebook Page (Family Fiat: World Youth Day 2016), I wanted to assure you that we did make it there and back again safely, though we are not quite the same people that left you three weeks ago. (That's a good thing, I suppose).

If it's alright with you, I will use this article space over the next few weeks to talk about some of the sights and insights that came of this trip. Every single day was a challenge, a surprise, and a blessing. I began to see that my guardian angel was the best tour guide I could possibly have relied on. We were almost always in the right place at the right time, if we could open our eyes to see it.

Among the early events of our trip: Visiting a site in Poland that is host to an approved Marian apparition and a spring of water that has similar stories of healing as Lourdes in France. This was Gietrzwald. We happened to be there on the day of a festival in honor of World Youth Day pilgrims, and we were invited to join. Win-win-win!

Here is the post I shared about Day 3 of our pilgrimage on our Family Fiat site:

Do you know the song, "Dayenu"? It is a Hebrew song praising God. The word means "enough." It would have been enough, the song says if God had simply brought us out of Egypt, and not done anything else. It would have been enough if he had just given us the Torah, and not fed us with the manna. And on and on and on it goes.

I am titling day three of our pilgrimage, "Dayenu Day."

It would have been enough I just got out of bed this morning. It would have been enough had to be woken up and found breakfast somewhere, instead of finding out that we were really at a bed and breakfast with an incredible spread. It would have been enough if we had just gotten a ride to Giertzwald, since we had expected to walk both ways. Instead they insisted on picking us up as well.

The tree and spring where Mary appeared 

It would have been enough simply to walk the beautiful path down to the healing spring, but there was also a mountain path where we drank in the air filled with the scent of balsam trees and prayed our rosary together in the Polish countryside that Pope Saint John Paul II loved so much.

It would have been enough if we had just come across the most beautiful Stations of the Cross we had ever seen and prayed that together while climbing up the hill, but as we were making our way around we discovered that in this field at 3 p.m., the hour of Mercy, there would be Holy Mass...

The 13th Station: Jesus is laid in the arms of His mother. 

And that Holy Mass was to be part of the festival for young people from around the world who have come to this diocese in preparation for World Youth Day. And they welcomed us.

Mass in the field at Gietrzwald 

And there was ice cream. And cotton candy the size of Leah's head. And the day isn't even over yet. On and on and on it goes.

Dayenu, Lord. Dayenu.