Here, on You Tube, is the unveiling of the miraculous image of the Black Madonna, which takes place daily, accompanied by a trumpet fanfare.
Our Lady is, of course, Queen of Poland, and Częstochowa is the main national pilgrimage centre. Long crocodiles of young people, accompanied by Priests, Monks, and Nuns, walk to the Monastery from all over Poland, singing hymns as they go, and often taking several weeks. Free accommodation and meals are provided at the houses of ordinary people on the routes. Older people, like me, go by bus.
Outside the Monastery is a large notice board with lists of forthcoming pilgrimage groups: teachers, firemen, soldiers, police, judges, every group imaginable.
I have been three times with school groups, and it is the most joyful place I know.
Out Of Don Milani’s Pig’s Mouth, Or: Defence of The “Marginalised” Is The
Best Indication Of Sexual Perversion.
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The lurid translations of that big, fat, lurid pig called Don Milani are
here. I have read the Italian version and can assure you the translations
are actu...
14 hours ago
5 comments:
Where in Poland do you live?
The Bones - 3 days near Brodnica, and four in Elbląg.
Uplifting to read in these days!
I have occasionally upset people by saying that it will be a sign that christendom is more ok again at the roots ,( the vast mass of people, families, religious, parishes) when the good Lord permits a really, really bad Pope , becuase it won't matter, whereas we have had a sucession of superb ones which is in a way a bad sign - we and society in general need them.
I dont mean (and nor Im sure do you) that Poles are not tried and tempted in their daily lives , nor never sin; just this reflection of an area where the church, the people of God, the struggling fallible church militant, is so nearly coterminous with society, is comforting.
Forgive me if Ive got the wrong end of the stick!
God bless!
Mike - I find very interesting the idea of bad Popes only in times of a healthy Church, and it seems to be supported by history.
You have certainly got hold of the right end of he stick. The point is not that Poles are angelically good and saintly (they are normal fallible people), but that they know right from wrong (queues for confession here are long), trust God and His Mother, and are loyal to what the Church teaches.
A memory sticks in my mind. The very popular young mayor of my little town, who has a wife and son, was diagnosed with cancer of one of his kidneys. His grandfather and father had both died of cancer of the kidneys. The whole town raised a big mass offering for a month of Masses for his recovery at the Monastery at Częstochowa. When I spoke to his wife in the street before his operation, she said, "Będzie jak Pan Bóg da, dlatego modlię się, a nie martwię się." (It will be as God wills, so I pray, but I don't worry.)
Thanks be to God he recovered, and is still mayor.
God bless!
Poles certainly are religious - the main issue here isn't one of morality or faith. The Polish church, because of its history, has a habit of being very politically active. It ends up too close to certain political movements which I think drives people of other viewpoints away
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