So, Last weekend I went to Prague with some friends for a few nights. Mark, Luke, Kirstin, Patrick, Catherine and I all set out for our 3 day-trip at 5 am in the morning. We took trains from Gaming to Vienna, then tried to take a bus from Vienna to Prague, but the bus could only take us to Bruno. Apparently, you need to reserve the bus a week in advance, but we had not known that. Both ways the bus was messy so we ended up on the train for the ride back. When we got to the city, we were all separated, but somehow we all made it to the hostel, which was in an ok location (in the city, city, in a not so great part of town). We went out to eat at a local restaurant and went straight to bed without incident. the next day, Mark and Patrick went off by themselves, but planned to meet the rest of us for a 7pm Spanish Saturday mass at the Infant of Prague Church (The mass was actually at 1700, as we found out later.). We toured the city and saw St. Nick's Church, the famous tower, multiple other churches, Infant of Prague, the huge castle with Vilnus Cathedral. It was a beautiful day filled with adventure, though it was freezing. Overall, that was an amazing trip and I'm glad to have traveled with all of them.
This past weekend, I went to Poland, where we saw Auschwitz I&II, Krakow, Divine Mercy Shrine, and JPII's town. Auschwitz was more horrific than I had ever thought or could ever think. They had rooms filled with hair, luggage, shoes, pots, brushes, glasses. Basically, anything the Germans stripped from the prisoners. They had also preserved one specific barrack, which held bunks, washrooms, and prisoner cells. We saw where St. Kolbe died, where the pope had come to pray during a visit here. It was unbelievable. They even showed us a gas chamber and crematorium. The horrors were indescribable. That was Friday.
Saturday, they took us on a tour of the city. I was hoping personally and praying that we would go to Wawel Cathedral, where King Jagiello and Queen Jadwiga were buried, but I never thought I would get to go. Before I knew it, I was kneeling in front of her tomb, where her relics are kept, and rejoicing and praising God for such an opportunity.
When I was about 10 years old, my cousin Therese, in Ireland, sent me this story about this princess of Hungary who was betrothed since birth to a young man from another kingdom, they grew up together and grew to love one another. Suddenly, when the young princess was not even a teenager, her father died, leaving her the crown, as she was the only child, and her mother had passed away when she was much younger. She was faced with a choice then between her country and herself. She was strongly advised and pushed to marry this King Jagiello of Poland, much older than her, who promised to convert his whole country and himself to Catholicism if she took his hand in marriage. But she was promised to another, who was her dear friend and companion. She prayed to Jesus, who spoke to her and asked her to marry this Jagiello. So she did. A 12 year old with so much faith made such a decision. That has always inspired me.Thus I was moved to be there in front of her remains. In addition, I turned around, and facing her tomb was the Divine Mercy image. How blessed was I that day.
Later, we all got on buses and headed out to the Shrine of Divine Mercy. We pray for about an hour in front of the Blessed sacrament, and I saw one of St. Faustyna's bones and her tomb, below the 4th version of the image of Divine Mercy. Then, we were given a talk by Sr. Gaudia, who said she hadn't prepared anything and was in a "crisis" b/c of it but was going to rely on the Holy Spirit. After the talk, I went up to her to thank her but she was talking to another group so I waited. They were asking her what Sr. Faustyna was like, and she described her not as calm as the pictures depicted with green eyes and red hair. She was like, "She was very tempered? How do you say that?" I was behind her, so I interjected, ""Quick-tempered?" and she saw me and my red hair and was like, "Oh, red hair. You know what I'm talking about." I laughed so hard. In the Church, it was very simple, but the one thing that stood out the most was this random globe in the middle behind the altar with a random red dot above it. I had no clue what it was, until communion time when he opened it and there was Jesus. The world was where Jesus dwelt. I had such a beautiful time there.
