Days 1 & 2, September 21-22, 2025: Flights to Poland
It's been two hurry-up and wait days! We sat on the tarmac for an hour in Minneapolis, which caused a mad rush to barely make the connection in Chicago. Then we sat on the tarmac for an hour in Chicago, causing another near miss connection in Zurich! At the airport in Warsaw we were to have a transfer to the hotel … it's a huge place and no signs anywhere of the location of the Arrival Hall, so Uber was our backup. So we are here, and the Sofitel Warsaw Victoria hotel is first class. Our minds urged us to go down for a drink and a bite to eat, but our bodies revolted ... so we're sliding into the very comfortable bed for a good night's sleep to wake up refreshed for the Pilgrimage, which starts tomorrow! Good night!
Day 3, September 23, 2025: Warsaw
The plethora of food at this morning's buffet breakfast here at the hotel was amazing! Eggs served in a variety of ways, meats galore, fruit pierogi, cheeses, frosting decorated croissants on a stick, breads, yogurts, olives, pâtés, etc, etc, etc! Afterwards, we walked the city a bit, along the main route of government buildings, rows and rows and rows of outdoor cafes, churches, etc. We visited and presented our prayer petitions at the gorgeous Basilica of Holy Cross Church. One of the many side altars was commemorating Pope Saint John Paul II. Another held the heart of Frederic Chopin, the composer. After a bit of a hassle, we were able to convert some $$ to Polish zloty; then spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing before meeting the rest of the pilgrims.
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| The lines of outdoor cafes seemed endless! Many were surrounded by beautiful flowers and greenery |
This afternoon we met the rest of the group;
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| Guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier |
25 of us in all, a very nice sized group. Fr. Joseph Moreno heads up the pilgrimage along with Sister Faustina and Sister Monica Faustina. We went to Mass in the small chapel of St. James Church. This is the same church where Helena Kowalska prayed extensively and asked for advice on her calling to be a nun. Her parents were very much opposed largely because they couldn't afford it, and she didn't want to disappoint them; however, she always had a desire to serve God in that way At one point Jesus, himself, challenged her saying, “How long must I wait for you.” Unfortunately, the actual church she prayed at was destroyed during WWII, while the current building was built in the 1950s. After Mass we had an opportunity to kiss the first class relic of St. Faustina … an extremely moving experience for me. We then visited the main church with Adoration there at the same time. In the Church was another relic of St. Faustina where I had an opportunity to actually take the paper with all the prayer petitions people have entrusted me to bring on this pilgrimage and press it upon her relic … another very moving movement.
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| Holy Cross Church |
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| Altar at St James Parish |
Warszawa (we are in Poland, after all!) was 80% destroyed during WWII; and of a population of about a million, over 700,000 were killed. So virtually every building we saw has been rebuilt in the last 80 years! But from what we've seen so far, it is very clean, crime is not a problem, there are hundreds of outdoor restaurants along the roads and flowers everywhere! Of course, our experience so far has been limited to the City Center area. More tomorrow.
A delicious buffet dinner at the hotel and resting up for a longer day tomorrow. It is a pilgrimage and our word for today is “desire” … what do we desire to receive from this pilgrimage?; what does Jesus want for us to receive? Dobranoc!
