Polak and Polka: A Cracovian Love Story

Before I left, a friend asked me why I want to go to Poland of all places. My answer was one a child would probably give: I like Polish people. The next question was how many Polish people I knew. So here you have it folks:

1. Pope John Paul II
2. Saint Maximilian Kolbe
3. Saint Faustina Kowalska
4. Dr. George Woytanowitz (history professor at St. Thomas)
5. "Big Mike"
6. Agnieszka "Aga" Lula
7. Justin Wiltse (fellow Bernardian)

And that is the extent of Poles that I know. Hmm...why do I love Poland? Could it be the food? Pierogi, kielbasa, zurek soup...what's there not to love? But no, that can't be the reason either. Ah!! I remember why I love Poland. According to statistics from 2007,"88.4% of the population belonged to the Catholic Church" (Wikipedia). I mean, how could you not be that Catholic when then Cardinal Karol Józef Wojtyła, now known as Blessed Pope John Paul II, was Archbishop of Krakow? Just read his address to the then Communist Poland in 1979:

"To Poland the Church brought Christ, the key to understanding that great and fundamentalreality that is man. For man cannot be fully understood without Christ. Or rather, man is incapable of understanding himself fully without Christ. He cannot understand who he is, nor what his true dignity is, nor what his vocation is, nor what his final end is. He cannot understand any of this without Christ.
Therefore Christ cannot be kept out of the history of man in any part of the globe, at any longitude or latitude of geography. The exclusion of Christ from the history of man is an act against man. Without Christ it is impossible to understand the history of Poland, especially the history of the people who have passed or are passing through this land. The history of people. The history of the nation is above all the history of people. And the history of each person unfolds in Jesus Christ. In him it becomes the history of salvation." (Vatican.va) 

 

 After delivering this to the Polish people, they started to heed the words of scripture repeated over one hundred times: "Be not afraid." They went into their workplaces, their homes, and in the public square to proclaim the truth of Christ in their live. With that, Poland's communist grasp weakened significantly and eventually weakened the rest of the Slovak area, in turn weakening the USSR. The rest is history.

The one thing I loved most about Krakow was the amount of Catholic churches and the outward piety of the city's people. The city basically basically had a Mass schedule comparable to that of Rome. People were always at Mass and even the Cathedral guards were practicing Catholics, as evident by them serving Mass, reading at Mass and genuflecting before the Blessed Sacrament before entering the Adoration Chapel. If I could speak Polish, I would 100% move to Krakow and live there for the rest of my life!! There is something about a Catholic society that wins my heart over EVERY single time.

Some of the churches we visited were jaw-droppingly beautiful. Built in the classical style, the decor was much more "Here live God; come and behold Him!" rather than the modern "We worship God here; look at my decorating skills! Supes cute!" (Too far? I think not...). The reverence displayed by the Poles in their church design and church-going is something I wish every Catholic would heed. Along with these stunning churches, the Adoration Chapels where truly built for royal to given proper respect to the King of Kings. It is a Catholic paradise in Poland!!

Speaking of paradise, SNOW. LOTS of snow!! When we were descending into KRA (JPII International Airport), we were delayed by 15 minutes and forced to fly around in the air because they had to clear the runway of snow. With temperatures around the 28° to 36° range, I was able to experience the winter I missed this year. Luckily for me, I checked the forecast before leaving Rome and brought my Columbia Omniheat jacket to ensure I am toasty warm the whole time!! There is something about an all-white backdrop to beautiful church architecture which can soften my heart no matter how hard it may have become from churches like this and this and this or dare I say this one. Sometimes conserving what is beautiful is better than creating something new and beautiful (Most times I'd say). 

Anyway, back to snow!! Though it was freezing cold in the churches when we went to Mass, it was a blessing to have these cold temperatures following me around for the week. It made me remember why I fell in love with Minnesota :)

This an abrupt change but while we were in Poland, we went to visit Auschwitz and the neighboring Auschwitz-Birkenau. Hitler's Holocaust of the Jewish people was one that will stain history for countless years to come. I have always had an interest in the time period during Second War World and this trip brought all these horrific events back into my mind. It was very difficult at times to see rooms filled with confiscated shoes, luggage, glasses and literal tons of human hair. My heart ached for all the innocent lives that were lost to this horrible Nazi cause. All that was described to us was unimaginable but despite the sadness that me heart felt, I was able to see light at the end of a long tunnel.

On part of the tour, we had the opportunity to visit Block 11 where there were starvation cells. It is in this building that both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI came to pray at one particular cell. If my memory serves me correctly, it was in Cell 18 where St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan priest and one of my favorite saints, was martyred after starving to death along with 10 other men. His story is a very sad one but one should not overlook the fact that he did not died in vain but out of the love of Christ. Saint Maximilian Kolbe chose to enter that cell in the place of this father with children who was initially selected. This martyr of the love of Christ is an inspiration and a call to all Christians to agape, or the total gift of self through love.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe's story is not unique either. There were many people interned in these concentration camps who hoped to the point of death and lived to love. Many lost their lives but gained eternity with God for having faith in him and never giving up hope in the face of certain death. Those who can see love even in these most volatile conditions brought me hope. I am not sure I could have that strength but how I pray that if I was in their place and I can still see hope at every moment.

It was certainly a spiritual experience as much as a historical experience to visit Auschwitz. I will not forget the things that I saw there for the rest of my life and I will always heed the call given by those who died in the hope of rising to new life after death. They are a true inspiration.

I apologize for the sudden change of topic yet again. Poland was filled with completely unique experience and it's a shame to bunch them together in one post. Yet, everything is connected by the common thread of this penultimate topic. On Sunday of that week, we made our way further outside of Krakow to the world renowned Divine Mercy Sanctuary established by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 2002. While the Sanctuary itself was...interesting...the message of Christ to St. Faustina is one that should resonate in our lives. For those unfamiliar with the Divine Mercy Devotion, EWTN uses these words:

"Devotion to The Divine Mercy involves a total commitment to
God as Mercy. It is a decision to trust completely in Him, to
accept His mercy with thanksgiving, and to be merciful as
He is merciful."
Read more:http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/backgr.htm#ixzz2R059Gndy

This devotion has become increasing popular in the United States and around the world over time, especially after Blessed John Paul II started to actively promote it following his canonization of St. Faustina in 2000. That say year, Pope John Paul II declared the First Sunday after Easter as the Sunday of Divine Mercy, according to what is specified in the diary of St. Faustina. Because of this ever growing devotion, a lot of people flock to he tomb and to the Sanctuary.

I will tell you with all my experience with papal events and conclaves, the crowds at Divine Mercy Sunday are INTENSE. I have never experienced that much pushing and "sardine-ing" (Definition: when a group of people actively try to imitate the compact nature of sardines) in a liturgical setting. The either Mass was in Polish but I was still able to participate partially because the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei were sung in Latin by the choirs present. It was a great experience but I NEVER plan on doing it again...unless, of course, I have some VIP access or something.

After some shopping at religious goods booths, prayer at the tomb of St. Faustina, praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy during the hour of Divine Mercy on site, and eating some Polish food from a street vendor, we finally made our way to find a taxi to take us to the airport. Much to our surprise, the taxi driver was a kind/funny man who gave us a history of Poland as we drove to KRA and told us about his daughters whom he loves very much.

Our last surprise of Poland was at the airport itself. As we were waiting for our flight to eventually come, I spotted signs for the airport chapel. Having bad experiences with other airport chapels in the US, I was hesitate to see this one. I was half expecting a picture of Jesus next to Buddha next to Ganesha, the Hindu god of knowledge, wisdom and wealth.

But nope! Instead I found a crucifix placed above the Blessed Sacrament with a pilot praying before embarking on his flight. That propeller in the corner has a considerable amount of rosaries hanging off of it and there was a Mass schedule posted by the door. Only in a Catholic country can I be blessed with such a surprise!!

There you have it folks!! There was my experience in Krakow, Poland: the city that stole my heart.

Schönstatt: German for "Beautiful Place"

In order to tell this story, I am not entirely sure that there can be a beginning. It is a common trend for me to get way over my head on how to express my experiences but I will try my best for my readers. So, my beginning will be Christ and my story will be his Most Holy Mother, Mary. 

For anyone who knows me and is interested in my spiritual life, I am more than willing to share the story about my miraculous rosary. Years ago, as I was growing more and more into my faith, I had a desire to start praying the rosary again. When I searched around my house, I discovered that all I had were those cheap plastic rosaries that you can buy in bundles. Who would ever want to pray with this cheap plastic thing? I understand that the rosary is a rosary but coming back into the faith initially was leaning towards the grandeur of God. I prayed with that plastic rosary but I continued looking for rosaries in the meantime. Everything I found online was quite expensive and I quickly got discouraged. Eventually, after a week or so, I gave up and prayed to God that I must accept what I have and if something better came my way, I will praise God for this miracle. I surrendered my desire for something better and embraced whatever the Lord wanted from me.

Well, my lovely and beautiful friend, Anne Lahola, came back from a pilgrimage to Medjugorje and when I saw her she said, "Walk with me. I have a present for you." She continued on to tell me about her time in Medjugorje and how it was magnificent. Then she pulled out a rosary:

This rosary from Medjugorje was made at a house for boys who have dependency issues such as playing too much video games, drinking too much, eating too much etc. The beads are called "Job's Tears" which are actually seeds that naturally grow with a hole through it. Both Mother Theresa and Pope John Paul II had rosaries made with these seeds. Now, the crucifix is what got me. This crucifix is unique from any I've seen before because instead of just having Jesus dying on the Cross, Mary is standing at her son's side catching his blood in a chalice. This crucifix not only reminded me of what Jesus did for me through his death but also illuminated the fact that Mary was at the foot of his Cross and accepted that it was God's will that her child was to die in front of her to save humanity from the grips of Hell. She embraced this sorrow and sacrifice with love and faith. She accepted what the Lord gave her and praised for all the miracles she was presented with. 

It was at receiving this gift that I realized that this was not a gift from Anne but a gift from God himself. He gave me my miracle which I prayed for just days beforehand. For the past five or so years, I have been carrying this rosary in my back pocket and every time I pray with it, I praise God for giving me tangible proof of his existence through this rosary. 

Now wait for the kicker... I started to make rosaries and I struggled to find crucifixes for them all. When I had finally given up my search for finding some that I liked, I stumbled upon St. Joseph's Mail Ordered Rosary Parts (http://www.stjosephsmailorder.com) which has the best selection of rosary parts I've ever found online!! Anyway, wanna guess which crucifix I found and ordered? Out of hundreds of websites, I never saw that crucifix until I found this website. Even until now, I still order parts from this website.

Again, last year I was looking for a wall crucifix and I was able to find one with the Jesus and Mary on it. I basically devoted my life to this crucifix and its meaning because it spoke to me twice already when I reached a dead end. I took this cross and learned to fall deeper in love with Christ and his suffering but perfect mother. 

Well, I promised you a kicker!! I decided to go on a trip to Schönstatt with Nathan Schuster, a seminarian from the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, though I knew absolutely nothing about this place besides that it was in Germany. To be honest, I was kind of nervous that I won't enjoy the trip to this small town but I committed anyways. A couple of days before we were to depart, he was looking at the website for Schönstatt and I saw a picture of that crucifix and I said, "Hey!! I know that crucifix. It's basically my favorite!!" He kind of laughed and then said, "Well, it is kind of one of the major symbols of Schönstatt."(http://www.schoenstatt.org/en/about-schoenstatt/unity-cross-in-schoenstatt.htm) [If you care to learn more about it] MIND. BLOWN.

This crucifix, which is named the "Unity Cross", had shaped a lot of my reversion back to the faith and I was unknowingly going to the place were it basically has its home. If that isn't Divine Providence, I don't know what is!! Now onward....

This is the symbol of Schönstatt

Schönstatt is a small community located near Vallendar, Germany which is about ten minutes away from Koblenz. Buried in the hills, one would not suspect it was the center of a thriving Marian movement, well...besides the fact that there are Schönstatt Sisters walking on the pathways everywhere. I'm not going to lie, everything was a hike and half to get places but I got use to it after a while. After waking up at 4:30am, getting to the airport at 6am for our 8am flight, having the flight delayed until 11am, getting to Germany to discover we barely missed the bus, then finally getting to Schönstatt several hours after we were expected to arrive, I wanted nothing more than sleep. We were situated in the guesthouses ran by the Brothers of Mary and made our way to Mass in German. It was hard to focus and be prayerful especially since it I know next to zero German. We went back up the GIANT hill, ate dinner then Brother Marcus just us a brief tour of an exhibit of some heroes of Schönstatt. Through his broken English, I was still able to gather that I was in for the weekend of my life. Then sleep befell me.

The Original Shrine

The next morning, we went to the "Original Shrine" that is the source of the movement. I kid you not, this shrine holds a maximum of 20 or so people. It is no bigger than the average garden shed. Yet, this shrine is where the movement began and now there are over 275 shrines identical to this one scattered throughout the world, with the exception of two (both in the US). If there is one word to describe this chapel, it 100,000% would be "intimate". Now what is this all centered on you ask? Let me tell you. Most of my information comes from our tour guide, Sister Margarita from Puerto Rico who spoken English like someone from Florida. She was an absolute sweetheart :)

As I said, my story is Mary. This movement all started because Fr. Kentenich, the founder, was giving to task of being a spiritual director to these rowdy, trouble-making boys at a pre-seminary. These kids wouldn't listen so he prayed about it and came but with a solution. He presented the boys with an opportunity to become real men who are warriors, conquerors and victors!! What boy wouldn't want that? He asked them, not forced them, to devote their entire life to Christ by, for, with and in Mary, his Most Holy Mother. The image above, the "Mother Thrice Admirable" is part of every altarpiece in every Schönstatt shrine. You'd think these boys may be rebellious but very soon after, all the boys did everything for their Mother. Many of these boys were drafted into the First World War under Germany and every military medal they received, they would bring it back to the Shrine and give it to Mary as a sign of their bravery and courage for her sake. Many of these boys died in the war but all of them died knowing the love of Christ through his Mother.

I could go all day talking about this but I must move on!! If you want to learn more, you can contact me somehow if you'd like or wait to we see each other in person. Addiamo...

We then continued up a hill to get to the Church of the Blessed Trinity on Mount Schönstatt, which was the church Fr. Kentenich commission in the 1960's to be the main church building. The hike was as bad as the last one but I didn't even notice because I was in Heaven!!! Schönstatt had already stolen my heart away early that day. The entire walk, Sister Margarita continued to tell us more history about the movement and got to know us more. 

I will be the first to say that I'm not a huge fan on modern church design. The Renaissance, Gothic and Baroque styles of architecture were absolutely stunning. They are transcendant and what I recognize as true art. I don't make this exception often but this church was different. Though it was incredibly modern, Fr. Kentenich (basically, this man is a saint) designed the church to be transcendant once you fully comprehend the details he gave to it. I made the picture bigger so you can see this cross. This cross has so many small details about it that make it go from "oh..." to "ahhhh...." if you get what I'm saying. That skylight is actually the only light source for the entire church during the day. The tabernacle is dead-centered which is an infinite plus in my book. Very simple but transcendant.

Fr. Kentenich died in 1968 from a heart attack as he was unvesting in the sacristy after saying Mass. His tomb is sitting in there and people are surrounding it prayer. Though he died 45 years ago, the movement continues to build momentum. His cause for beatification is open along with two other members of Schönstatt. 

The entire experience was a blessing from God. Even a few weeks later, I'm still not sure what happened in my heart while I was there. All I know is that Mary with take you in as her child to bring you to salvation through her Son. 

As it says in John 19:26-27, "When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" From that hour the disciple took her into his own household."

This is the call of Christ in our lives. He tells us to take Mary into our lives, into our households, and glorify Him for his ultimate sacrifice and the redemption of our souls.

Come, O Holy Spirit! Fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in us the fire of Thy love!