Excursions

Pilgrimage to Czestochowa

My name is Alejandra and I am from Guatemala. I am a novice and, for the moment, living in Krakow for my apostolic experience with three sisters, Ania from Poland, Anne Denise from France and Victoria from Egypt.
I have been in Krakow since July 3rd 2015 and I will be here for five months. I would like to share my experience of the pilgrimage to Czestochowa, two hundred kilometers from Krakow. This pilgrimage is organized in Krakow by the Dominican Priests who started it 24 years ago. Two thousand people were walking, in groups of two hundred, young people, handicapped, families and children.
This seven days pilgrimage started on Monday 3rd and finished on Sunday 9th, August 2015. We walked 30 kilometers a day. Why did I go on this pilgrimage? I went on it because sister Ania invited us. The first day was not very tiring but the second and the third were very hard because as it is not so easy to walk 30 kilometers with 37 degrees of temperature. I said to myself I could not be able to follow because my feet started to be tired, but to see the children and young people walking with such a great faith helped me to continue. We started our day at 7:00 am with the mass and began to walk at 8: am. We stopped three times a day to rest, sometimes for an hour or more, sometimes for only 15 minutes or half an hour. It depended how it was organized. We finished our day at 10:00 pm with the adoration of the Holy Sacrament. We slept in different villages where the people welcomed us. They knew we were nuns and they offered us to take a shower. To have a shower after a day walking was the best thing we could have. I would say we were lucky that the people welcomed us because in the evening we had a hot meal and a place where to sleep.
While we were walking we prayed Lauds, Vespers and the rosary. The priest asked sister Ania to reflect on the day’s gospel rooted in Jewish tradition.
I am happy to have been able to go on this pilgrimage as I met many people who were interested to know why I was there. I went because I wanted to have this experience which has been wonderful even though I was exhausted.
At the end of the pilgrimage I could not believe that I had been able to make it. It is a nice feeling that I cannot explain in words, an experience which will remain in my heart.

written by Alejandra August 2015