Here’s another Europe archive post from when I visited Poland, including Auchwitz to ring in the Year of Mercy (Oh yeah, I’m Catholic, by the way).
It’s amazing to reflect back on those memories, which are still so salient in my mind, more than nine years later. It’s really a bummer that I did not take any photos when I was over there. I remember being nothing but painfully exhausted the entire time I was in Poland, so I’m sure that had something to do with my lack of photography.. Plus, Auchwitz was something I really did not have a huge desire to remember. It was shell-shocking to a 20-year-old small town Midwesterner.
Anyway, Happy New (Liturgical) Year! I hope this little reflection helps you enter in to the Year of Mercy.
To think about the world we live in can be very uplifting and very diappointing. Both emotions were strongly felt at our group pilgrimage to Poland.
We left Thursday evening and drove through the night to Chestehova (spelling?). We went to the Shrine of the Black Madonna, which was amazing. To see the strong faith of the Polish people is very uplifting. The strong devotion these people have to Our Lady is simply breath-taking. The icon is gorgeous.
After this, we did a bit of shopping before heading to Wadowice, the home town of our beloved John Paul II. We saw his birthplace and the parish he grew up in. We spent the remainder of the day, exhausted, shopping throughout the city before heading to this Catholic hostel thing.
The Catholic hostel thing. OK, so as many of you would probably guess, hostels are not my cup of tea. Granted, this wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it was pretty bad. I stayed in a room with Christie in a cabin that was totally secluded. Across the hall from us were some girls from Poland (I think), so I couldn’t eavesdrop on their conversations, which was really disappointing.
On Saturday, we woke up at the crack of dawn (no joke, we had to be on the bus by 6 a.m. Yeah, 6 a.m.) and left for Krakow. I love love love the city of Krakow! We took a walking tour of the city and saw several gorgeous churches before being set free to shop for a few hours. There was a really cool market thing near the center that sold everything from amber to chess sets. Fun fun fun.
After Krakow, we went to the Divine Mercy Shrine. It was absolutely nothing like I expected, but it was sooooooooooooooooo cool. It was really modern and art-deco-ish. The life of St. Faustina is SUCH an inspiration. The things she got in prayer in reference to God’s forgiving love is something that everyone should know and experience frequently. The entire shrine shuts down at 3 p.m., the Divine Mercy Hour, and everyone files into the chapels to pray a Divine Mercy Chaplet. It was so cool. The amount of people there really gave me hope for the future of our Faith. Simply amazing.
After the Divine Mercy Shrine, we went back to the Catholic hostel thing, where we had the option to pray the Stations of the Cross as a group. Peter, the group leader, took us into a room that showed a model of the Catholic hostel thing’s grounds, and showed us with a laser pointer where we would be walking if we choose to pray the Stations. It didn’t look too bad, so I decided to give it a try. The Stations were beautiful; each station had a reference to the Holocost, and it was a wonderful tribute to the vicitms. It was a very solemn time until we had a climb up a mountain that really looked like a small hill on the model Peter showed us. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in my life. I was wearing flip flops and the angle we had to climb was seriously very close to being straight up. The thing I remember most is looking up and seeing Kree on all fours, laughing hysterically. Once we got to the top, everyone was huffing and puffing for about ten minutes before the solemn mood returned. After the final station, we sat under the stars for a brief time of prayer, which was amazing. God is awesome:).
On Sunday, for a nice change of pace (sarcasm), we woke up at 6 a.m. to leave for Auchwitz. The entire ride there was solemn and quiet as we prepared for what lied ahead. Our first stop was Auchwitz Eins, which is where St. Maxillian Kolbe was executed. It was serioulsy the most depressing place I’ve ever been. To think about the approximately million lives that were lost in this place really makes you question mankind. I walked through the streets of Auchwitz completely silent where I honestly questioned the existence of God for the first time in years. The evil and atmosphere of such a place really makes me wonder where God was in all of this. Although I really don’t have an answer for this, and I know the Holocost NEVER should have happened, I do believe the faith of the people in the concentration camps is something to be extremely admired. After Auchwitz Eins, we went to Auchwitz Swei or “Birkenow”, where Schindler’s List takes place. After a brief tour, we prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet as we overlooked the place where so many people died.
We then went to a church for Sunday Mass. The church is on the grounds of a former Auchwitz camp. It is dedicated to Maximillian Kolbe, and let me say his intercession in this place is remarkable. In the basement is an art gallery of a Holocost survivor, which depicted his memories of the camp. One of the most powerful things I’ve ever seen is one of his pictures, depicting Jesus holding up the victims of the Holocost. To think that this man lived through the Holocost and have the faith to create something faithful and powerful make me know that although it didn’t seem so, God was present through it all. Amazing.
We then ate an amazing Italian lunch (the ladies were Italian and I got to talk to them in Italian! Yay!),and departed for Gaming. I was very antsy the entire ride, but managed to fall asleep to wake up to our arrival at the Kartause at 2 a.m.
Poland was amazing. I am so glad I went. The image of Auchwitz will forever be in my mind, and although I NEVER want to go back there, it is important to remember those lives lost, as well as those faiths restored.