Our last trip we traveled to Poland. We went to the Shire of Our Lady of Czestochowa, and to Auschwitz I and Auschwitz Birkenau. The second day we went on a tour of Krakow and saw the Church in which Pope John Paul II (JPII) was bishop of before he became Pope. We also went and saw the Divine Mercy shrine and then the last day went to Wadovice which is where JPII is from.
The trip was fool of God's love and mercy. I really loved going to the Shrine the first day, the image of our lady there was beautiful and the place was just full of peace. Everywhere on the walls were hundreds of crutches of people who had been healed there and tons of jewelry and beautiful things that had been given. You can find the image online. This painting was said to have been painted by St. Luke, which he painted on a table that Jesus had made, and was in the house of the Holy Family. It has been deeply connected to the history of Poland for a long time. It was seriously just awesome. Research it! The painting gets partially covered up in clothe- like things from the precious medals and things that people have given. But the cool thing for me was that in the image there was Mary holding Jesus in one hand, and a rose in the other, like she was giving Jesus the rose. Well I am in what is called a 'household' at my school and it is called Rosa Mystica- so our symbol is a rose. And the image reminded me that Mary is bringing me to Jesus- just like she brought Jesus to the world! It was just really awesome and I was so thankful. Praise the Lord! I get excited just thinking about how I felt in that place!
Then was Auschwitz, and needless to say that was extremely hard. I don't want to go into the gruesome details because everyone knows them. But there are 2 things that were really special to me in that place of death and destruction. The first was that we were able to visit a cell of a Saint. St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest, was a prisoner there during the war. There are many beautiful stories about how witness of hope in the camp but one stands out in particular. When prisoners would escape from the camp there would be a random selection from the camp of 10 men who would be chosen to die from starvation and be left in a tiny cell until they did. Well on a certain occasion of a man escaping, 10 prisoners were randomly selected, one of which was begging for mercy because he had a family, a wife, and children. Maximilian Kolbe was in the crowd, and decided to walk up to the front (which in itself is unusual & a death treat itself) and tell the guards that he would go instead of this man. The guards were taken so off guard that they let him, plus it was just a number to them. So he went with the other men. And while in his cell he prayed and sang the whole time, and day after day he was still surviving, not dieing from starvation. And he brought hope to the other prisoners while he sang, and the one whole in his cell was at the very top of the room, and outside was where they would execute people. Father Maximilian's voice praising the Lord was the last thing many people heard right before they died. After awhile of him not dieing they took him out and killed him by lethal injection. And he became a saint under JPII. I felt blessed beyond words to visit the cell of this man, to see where he lay when he brought all those people hope, when he brought Jesus to them in that place of death. I am thankful that he is a witness of how no amount of evil, suffering, or death can ever conquer the Lord's love, mercy and goodness. This is where my second story comes in. When we went to Auschwitz Birkenau, which was the bigger camp, built during the war, when they ran out of room at Auschwitz I, we did not stay long. Most of the camp there had been destroyed by the Nazis as an effort to hide their grotesque rule. But what was there was the train track, that which thousands upon thousands of human persons were carried on, and the platform in which they would get off, and many of them be sent directly to death. This was difficult to stand on, as a free person, knowing that I could walk under the archway that so many never were able to walk out of- knowing that if I couldn't handle it, if I was too weak to look at death, then I could just walk back out. All of us felt like this. Our stomachs were churning and our hearts were crushed. But even in that place God gave us a beautiful gift. We went to the place where the platform was, and we knelt down in the snow, and we prayed. It started only as a few people saying the Divine Mercy Chaplet (where you mediate on and ask for the Mercy of the Lord). But slowly, people joined in, because they needed it, just as we did. And by the end most of the whole group of 100 and some people were knelling in the freezing cold snow, singing it. It was so beautiful. There was mercy in that place of death. And God showed me that he has conquered all. That Auschwitz, all the other concentration camps, all death, all sin, and all evil, are not even a shadow of the good, of his love. He has conquered- no matter what! God is good!
I will finish the rest of the blog later... I have mid-term so pray for me please
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
So I know my blog says that I am going to Switzerland- but turns out, that was an old blog that I never uploaded- so now, a week later, I have already come back from Switzerland and am now leaving for Poland in less than 2 hours!
Switzerland was really great though! I really think that it has been my favorite place so far! IT was such a blessing! We stayed east of Interlocken in a place called Istewald and ended up going into the city to rent snowshoes- which happen to be the most fun thing in the world- we then got on a bus, then on another bus, then on a train, and then on another bus, to get to this place that Im not sure of the name because the stop was only known by the hotel- because that was all that was there- it was literally in the middle of the Swiss alps! But the place close to it was called Grindewald. Anyway, so the mountains were breathtaking and I seriously was in awe every time I stopped and looked behind me. I felt like a child again though! The snowshoes let you run in like 8 feet of snow and only sink down a couple of feet! I ran as fast as I could, and when I would fall it didn't matter because it was in the snow, and it didn't hurt at all! It was so powdery and soft! It was also so peaceful! There was not a single sound except the sound that our snowshoes would make hitting the snow! But it was really nice to just enjoy this simple beauty. It really reflected so much about our Lord, but in a simple way. Just by looking around you learned things about God and ourselves. Looking at the mountains, you learned about how God is unchangeable, immovable and huge! And to think that God thinks that my heart is more beautiful than all of the wonderful mountains in the whole world combined! I just love it! The Lord really is all that is true, good, and beautiful! Today in class our teacher was talking to us about Poland and the beauty of it all and they mentioned a quote- which I adore- "In the end beauty will conquer all" Its so true though because how can people see such beauty and not know love?!!! It must be impossible!
I also learned more about being a child in relation to the Lord though. Just appreciating all he has to offer me and enjoying to fully. I mean really, when kids are given gifts they love it! They want to tell everyone and they carry it with them wherever they go! And to them the world is over if it isn't there! And they live so well in the present! They don't worry about the tiny mistakes they made or the troubles they may have in the future! But they just soak it all up, being totally present in that moment, living that moment to the very fullest! And I thank God that he allowed me to live like that, if just for one day, so that I know what it feels like to not have a care in the world and just rest in his Sacred heart, and so that I can strive for that daily, in every moment! So praise GOD!
Also, I felt so blessed, because two of my friends and I had to return the rentals, and catch a bus so that we could catch another bus, so that we could get back to our Hostel. But we were waiting at the stop and after awhile realized that the bus we were waiting on only came Monday through Friday! and it was Saturday! So with a prayer and the very little German we knew we asked people for directions to the station and took off running- and I mean running through the streets! (faster than I ever run in Cross-Country probably) and we had to go to the bathroom soooo bad! and we had to go a few miles in like less than ten minutes, with no idea where we were and only signs in German. But again, praise the Lord! because we made it! and we decided that since we could do that we would be able to do anything else here! It was really fun though!
So like I said- I'm leaving for Poland tonight, and I would really appreciate your prayers. It will really be a pilgrimage. We are going to all these holy places! I will have to write quite a long blog talking about it! I hope you all have a very peaceful weekend! God Bless!
Hello! So tonight I am getting ready to go to Switzerland! I am soo excited- I am friends with one of the RD's here (Resident Director) and she is getting a van and we are all driving there! I'm so pumped because we will be driving through some of the most beautiful parts of Austria! We are staying in a hostel that is on a lake outside of Interlocken, and it even has a fireplace which I am pumped about! I am hopefully going to try snow-shoeing for the first time! So if you guys could keep us in your prayers that would be great!
Last weekend I ended up staying back, at least for part of the weekend. Thursday night I ended up eating dinner with one of the Professor’s family who have 7 children, and the next day I was able to go skiing with them and another beautiful family! It was such a blessing because that day I had really really been missing home and the family, and just being in that type of environment and I was able to experience that in such a beautiful way. I guess God knew just what I needed- as always! So then on Saturday my friend Kristin and I woke up at 545 in the morning to catch a train to Vienna that left at 8oo… it is a 3.5 mile walk to the station and we wanted to have plenty of time—so we left at about 630, but we walked so fast that we ended up getting there like 45 minutes early and sitting in the cold! But we had such good conversations it was so worth it! The train rides also were really enjoyable; I much prefer it to cars! Then when we go to Vienna we went to Stephansdom- the big Cathedral there, and went on the roof where we could see for sooooo far! It was really cool. Then we just went into Café’s and shops and walked around for awhile until we went to the market- which was the best ever! There were millions of scarves there! And all for 5 Euro! So of course I had to get two!! It was really nice to just relax and explore the city again though! I love Vienna!
So all in all last weekend was great- except my plan of catching up/getting ahead on work didn’t really happen so the week was somewhat difficult. But I guess that’s how it’s going to be a lot over here! That’s okay though!
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