[Salvation]

Day 4, Friday, June 16th
Warsaw and Neapokalanow

In the morning we visited the picturesque residence of the Polish monarchy. It had all been rebuilt since much of Poland was destroyed during World War II. This palace had such beautiful wooden inlaid floors all with at least two different kinds of wood. One floor had nine kinds of wood in it! Again we saw everything except the kitchen! LOL! We then traveled to Lazienki Park, the summer home of the king.

We had just walked all over the wooden inlaid floors at the palace, but here we had to put on slippers to walk on marble. Go figure? We had to take them off to come down the steps, and then had to put them back on over our shoes as we finished the summer tour. To me, the most interesting thing about these two residences was that in the public palace there were many references, saying, murals, etc. to the Catholic faith, but in the private summer residence at the park (beside a man-made lake) the art depicted more the gods of love as well as other pagan figures. There was also an interesting display of the seasons of one's life: childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. I guess we have to remember that their life spans were much shorter than ours today.

We had lunch on our own and then traveled to St. Maximillian Kolbe's location with simple one story buildings. It really is a self-sufficient little town. The little chapel where we had Mass was a simple wooden structure -- nothing fancy at all. Mistakenly some of us went into the basilica that has been built there -- the Immaculate Conception Basilica. Another spacious and beautiful church although the outside architecture was more modern.

The story of Father Kolbe's decision to form a media ministry was one that caused grief for his superiors in Poland, but on the other hand, one that reached millions of readers in Poland. One of the publications or holy cards that I collected there talked about St. Maximillian Kolbe being named the saint of the Internet. Very appropriate in my estimation since he moved his Militia Immaculata to Japan and started publishing there. He had plans to also move on to India, but World War II interrupted those plans.

I would recommend the book "A Man for Others" by Patricia Treece that is a very readable biography of his life. (I am reading it now.) He suffered in silence most of his life and then gave his life for another person at Auschwitz. More about that

[Salvation]

I forgot that in the morning we stopped at a meorabilia spot that has been rebuilt with residences, but used to be the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw. Very touching pictures and story of how these Jews lived and then were moved on to Auschwitz.

[fatima]

I read "A Man for Others".I met the man who was saved by St Maximillian .I was there at a new Church dedicated to St Maximillian and interviewed him and his wife.They did not speak English.I was told to look at him ,ask my question and keep looking at him as the interpreter explained.This worked very well.He was nearly blind then and that was a long time ago.I had no notes-never do.He cried when he talked about the Saint as if it was yesterday and he told us he made a promise to God that if he lived he would tell everyone what Saint Maximillian did for him.It was an honor to met him and his wife.

[lizol]

You've been to Niepokalanow????

Gosh, a pitty I didn't know, as it's maybe 40 km from the place where I live!!!

We could've meat in live, not only online :-)))

[Salvation]

http://www.ofmconvmalta.org/interconv/world/niepokal.htm

 

http://library.catholic.org/mary/mary217.txt

 

http://www.catholic-pages.com/saints/st_maximilian.asp

 

 

St. Maximillian erected a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary outside of the wooden chapel where we had Mass -- first thing he did when he arrived.  For more pictures of their humble beginnings, get the book, "A Man for Others."