Cure For Exhaustion (Burn-Out)
You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more important than they?
— Matthew 6:24-26
Dzien Dobry:
Ground hog day again, I’m starting to hate that movie.
We were up, showered, packed, had breakfast and were on the road at 7:30 off to our next shrine…… a little over 2 hours away and it’s in the mountains. Yeah! Even though they are small, it’s a change from farm land and rolling valleys.
The drive was only 55 miles and 15 miles of that was on a super highway and Jag purred all that way at 140 KPH. I understood why it would take over 2 hours to get there half way thru the drive. There mountain roads leave something to be desired. Actually going up and over and down a small peak of about 7 miles Susan didn’t speak, she only groaned, grunted and did several ooh’s and ahh’s. I did a few grunts myself as it took almost a half an hour and we only saw 4 cars the whole time.
We arrived at the Basilica of Wambierzychkie (say that fast 3 times) after several detours around road construction that seems to be everywhere in Poland. We had a ½ hour to spare to make the Pilgrims mass at 11. We explored a little before and were seated. There were only five of us in the when the priest arrived. I felt sorry for him since there were so few of us in the main sanctuary and he answered the first few response himself not knowing if anyone would respond, so the 5 of us spoke louder, us in English, and he looked relieved.
After the mass, before the final blessing, he stopped and asked where we were from; we didn’t understand a word he said. He then managed some English and we said Stanow (states) and Florida and he responded Stanow! WOW! Welcome!
After the final blessing we then went to the main altar behind the one were Mass was offered and knelt and prayed before the Miraculous Statue of Our Lady. It’s small and reminded us of the one in Saragozza, Spain where The Mother of God went to help St. James and to tell him to come back to Jerusalem to be martyred, that was in 42 A.D. and was Her first apparition.
There is the story of the Shrine here as well as a FEW pictures so I won’t bore you with all the things we saw and did except for the way of Kalwaria(Stations of the Cross) which was across the street and up the mountain. It was cold and the wind made it colder so both of us put on another layer of clothing (we had 4 shirts on and a jacket) and I put on my sneakers before going and that was trip.
We made our way across the street and Kidron River, as it is called, and found the entrance to the stations. It was a little confusing and after the first station we got lost and started to climb some stairs and found the 6th station so we backtracked and found the other 4 we missed. We stood at crest of the hill and prayed those stations. After the 7th station we made another wrong turn and ended climbing up this steep path with lots of rugged stairs. By time we got to the hill of Calvary we were exhausted, so we sat on a bench and prayed the rest of the stations we missed before attempting to make our way down.
We took the station path but going down was harder than going up. Baby steps all the way and helping each other down steep drops. At one point Susan cracked up and started laughing because we seemed so old and feeble and we felt it. When we finally got to town I had to get my sneakers off because my feet were pounding. We rewarded ourselves with a cold beer and met a few people from Australia and Germany at the restaurant. They were really nice and could speak English.
It was 2 and we decided to get going to our hotel about a ½ hour away. We would spend the night here in Bardo Slaskie, Poland, the home to another Miraculous Statue of Our Mother. Finding our hotel was no picnic since the roads in this very small town were torn up and the one to the hotel looked washed out and was all stones. We turned around and ended going back up the same way because we asked someone and they said it was ok. This is a nice hotel and spa and we look forward to some relaxing time in the pool, hot tub and steam room. We will see.
It was early so we went down to the town and the basilica and looked for more information since there is another Calvary across the street up the mountain, which has the spring of Mary, known for its healing power and footprints of Our Lady imbedded in a rock. We will see how we feel in the AM.
We went into the Basilica to pray our rosary and did some exploring and prayed before Her Miraculous Statue, another small figure of Mother and Child.
The mass began with a procession with Our Lady and the Ave Maria. We left when mass began.
When we got back to the hotel, there was no electricity and we found out it was out all over the mountain. The lights came on at 8 and we went to dinner at the hotel. Another non-meat day (Wed) so we ordered soup and potato & cheese pierogies and a salad. I liked the soup–Susan didn’t–but the rest was good.
Back in the room we caught up on the things we needed to since there was no internet with the electric off and watched TV for a few minutes. Tomorrow we planned to sleep in, but there were no blackout shades and the parking lot light was shining in……I thought, how stupid in a luxury hotel.
That’s all I remember.
God bless all of you
Love
Susan & Tom
Cure For Exhaustion (Burn-Out)
