"I'm a poor guy, what can I give back? Only myself, my faith, my heart, my life, just me," he said.
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An interesting read about great devotion to our Blessed Mother. God bless these good souls. FReegards. |
Posted on 08/26/2004 10:03:43 PM PDT by Coleus
Polish pilgrims' trek shows faith
Pilgrimage honoring Holy Mother inspires scores to set example
A line of footsteps, extending through history from the villages of rural Poland to the immigrant neighborhoods of urban America, continued unbroken for the 17th year with this month's pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa.
Instead of traveling to the original church in Czestochowa, Poland, to pay homage to the Holy Mother, those living in the United States have adapted the ancient tradition of pilgrimage by walking each year from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.
From Aug. 12-15, the four-day, 56-mile trek from Great Meadows in Warren County to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, Pa., had nearly 2,000 participants this year. It was a record turnout for the event, begun in 1987 with just 17 pilgrims.
Like most years, the majority of participants were Polish or Polish-American. North Jersey was heavily represented, with a large number of participants listing Wallington, Passaic, Clifton and Hackensack as their homes.
The Virgin of Czestochowa, also referred to as "The Black Madonna," because of her dark coloring and distinctive facial scars, is a depiction of the Virgin Mary, revered by Polish Catholics worldwide.
"The legend says she was painted on the wood of the kitchen table top belonging to Mary and Joseph," said Marek Wojtach, of Clifton, as he walked the pilgrimage with his family and members of a North Jersey rosary prayer group.
"We have a long history of invasions in Poland, and legend says that during one raid, invaders tried to pull the image of her off the wall with horses. There was such a powerful force holding it that they couldn't pull it off, and became frustrated. So they hit it with an ax," which resulted in the distinctive double scar on the cheek of the original painting of the Virgin, Wojtach said.
"They tried to paint over the damage but the scars reappeared, as though she wanted them to stay there. She wanted to suffer the pain of the Polish nation. She is not only a very powerful religious symbol, but also significant of independence and freedom. She's like the Polish lady of liberty."
Although the pilgrimage maintains strong roots in Polish tradition, the Virgin of Czestochowa - and the yearly pilgrimage to the Doylestown shrine - have become touchstones for many other immigrant groups and American-born Catholics, who join the event each year in increasing numbers.
The organizers welcome new marchers into the fold; the pilgrimage now has a large English-language contingent, a small Spanish prayer group, and bilingual Polish-English masses.
"Poland is, like, 98 percent Catholic. But here, not everybody believes in what you believe in. Here, you could turn to the next car and the person can be brown, purple, green, and you don't know what they believe in, and some people accept you and some don't," said Cezary Kuziemski from Woodbridge.
He has participated in the pilgrimage for 10 of his 20 years, and, as a volunteer organizer with the "traffic control" division for the event, he sees the range of reactions to the pilgrimage from those driving by.
"A Catholic can drive by and curse at you, but, like, a Protestant will drive by and say that this is the greatest idea ever. So, to me, in a country where diversity is huge, where religions are so torn apart, to do something like this, it's fantastic," he said.
Day 1: "See You On The Road"
The pilgrimage started at sunrise in the parking lot of Ss. Peter & Paul Church in Great Meadows, where a team of 200 volunteers coordinated the impressive logistics by using walkie-talkies.
Registration lines formed chaotic circles around mounds of luggage and groups of people greeting their friends from previous pilgrimages.
Although every person was charged a registration fee of $20 per day - which included three full meals plus snacks and drinks - organizers said they barely break even with the costs of running the event.
Several tons of luggage and camping equipment were loaded onto a tractor-trailer, which would transport it ahead to nightly camp sites. Three trucks full of 10-gallon water jugs followed the pilgrimage to each rest stop, as did flatbed haulers towing rows of portable toilets. A fleet of minivans, two assigned to each walking group, provided a mobile rest stop and carried accordion files stuffed with copies of all necessary permits.
Pilgrims fueled up on tea, doughnuts and morning prayers before they departed with an upbeat traveling hymn. They took to the road in three large groups, each penned in on two sides by wires running from portable loudspeakers carried on pilgrims' backs. A priest, walking at the front of the procession, transmitted prayers and songs through a microphone.
On the first day of the pilgrimage, people walked at their own pace, a sea of heads bobbing to different rhythms. Conversations ebbed and flowed, as people walked next to each other or moved ahead, often with the refrain: "See you on the road."
Some pushed babies in strollers, others held children by the hand or linked elbows with the elderly. Still others moved through the crowd shushing groups of giggling teenagers. Families - several with three generations represented - walked together. Young children, jumping in and out of strollers after short rests, scurried among the crowds, jabbering easily in both Polish and English. They didn't have to walk with their parents; they were looked after by everyone.
Jadwiga Marciszewska, 44, of Secaucus and a parishioner of Sacred Heart Church in Wallington, had walked many pilgrimages in Poland with her own parents and was taking three of her five children on this route to set an example for them.
"It's a chance to show them your faith and your beliefs," she said. "How much you believe. How much you pray. How your legs are swollen. It's something they may not get to see in a regular church Mass."
Many spoke of the first day as a process of leaving behind the pressures of daily life.
"I work for UPS and everything is run, run, run. I leave home at 7 a.m. and come home at 6 p.m. and I have so little time," said Ryszard Smykowski, 44, of Cranford.
"I think I'm a good Catholic, but I never have enough time to read the Bible," he said. "I have to cut the grass or take care of the kids. To disconnect and think about God is amazing. I look at the surroundings, the flowers, everything. When you just drive by in the car, you only see seconds of it."
The groups averaged about two miles an hour, walking more than 17 miles on the first day. At the first rest stop, shoes came off, Band-Aids and foot powder were retrieved from backpacks, and pilgrims gathered in groups to compare calluses. Sister Teresa Gradowska, a Polish nun who has attended every pilgrimage for the past 17 years and is affectionately called "Sister Blister" by the pilgrims, ministered to aching feet.
Day 2: The Suffering
On the second day, the pace slowed as the faithful moved along the back roads of Hunterdon County in a light drizzle. Blisters and deepening introspection brought the procession to an even gait, in sync with the rhythms of crickets and murmuring prayers. The pilgrims faced a 19-mile walk on already sore feet.
The upbeat religious songs of the previous day were replaced with more traditional hymns, and the focus of the sermons shifted toward themes of suffering. A priest reminded his mobile congregation that their suffering was "nothing compared to Jesus' suffering."
Some started to limp but refused care for blisters they wanted to "offer up" to the Holy Mother as proof of their devotion. Others started to share their burdens with strangers, openly crying or whispering to priests in roadside confessionals, improvised behind the curve of an umbrella.
At times, they passed bewildered people on their porches, half-heartedly waving or slowing down in cars to ask, "What's this all about?"
As the sun set through the rain, only the methodical crunching of pebbles under a thousand feet could be heard. The pilgrims arrived at a campsite exhausted, with two days and nearly 40 miles of trekking on blistered feet behind them. After a light meal and an open-air night Mass, people gathered around a water pump to wash their aching feet.
Day 3: The Intentions
By the third day, the pilgrims were walking and praying in unison, moving, ribbonlike, across the Delaware River and into Pennsylvania.
The focus now was on the Holy Mother, and the particular intention each pilgrim was carrying to her. With all other distractions stripped away, they conversed with God, and prayed to the Virgin.
One prayed for relief from the troubles of an errant son, another for a sick relative. A man prayed for a crumbling marriage. A woman, when asked why she was walking, broke down in tears and said, "for my family, in Poland, I miss them so much."
The crowd grew much larger, as those unable to take time off during the week joined the walk on Saturday morning. Some caught up with friends or family members already on the pilgrimage. Others, like Krystyna Niedziela, of Clifton, and her son, Mark, were trying it for the first time.
"I've never walked more than 20 blocks," said 11-year old Mark. "My mom explained it's a way to disconnect from electronic things like computer games and TV."
His mother promised that if he stayed with the Polish-speaking group on Saturday, she would take him to walk with the English group Sunday.
"I've walked six miles already," he said. "I'm asking God for the strength to make it to the end."
Piotr Walega, 31, of Garfield, said he had intended to go on the pilgrimage last year. But a few days before leaving, he suffered severe headaches and blurred vision. Walega said he was shocked by news that he had a brain tumor and would face an operation.
"If you get that news, your whole life goes down," he said. He prayed to the Virgin of Czestchowa to save him.
"If you ask your mother, she always helps you, because she loves you," Walega said.
Day 4: The Celebration
On the fourth and final day of the pilgrimage, people rejoiced that their campsite had been spared from a predicted tropical storm.
Despite a widespread bout of food poisoning, spread through the previous night's soup, many were light-footed and joyful as they departed for the final leg of the journey to Doylestown.
Hundreds more joined the group on Sunday morning, and hundreds more were waiting for them at the church. They formed two lines along the road leading up to the shrine like spectators at a marathon and cheered the pilgrims as they arrived.
This year, with the largest attendance in history, the estimated crowd of 4,000 was too large for the church, so they conducted an open-air Mass.
For Piotr Walega, whose brain surgery took place almost a year ago, completing the pilgrimage was his way of showing his devotion to the Holy Mother.
"I'm a poor guy, what can I give back? Only myself, my faith, my heart, my life, just me," he said.
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An interesting read about great devotion to our Blessed Mother. God bless these good souls. FReegards. |
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