Love will always triumph- Poland.

Poland. Such a powerful and moving place. The school took us on a pilgrimage there in the middle of February, when the sky was grey and the ground was covered in snow. A cold wind cut through your skin the minute you stepped outside. It sounds like a cold and barren place, but in fact is vibrant with the love of God and hope in His salvation. Poland has seen more terror and bloodshed than almost any other country in Europe, especially during WWII and the era of Communism. Yet, out of the ashes of evil God has raised some of the most important saints of our time. Professor Cassidy told us before we left that if you take a handful of Polish soil in your hand and squeeze it, the blood of martyrs comes out. The ground is still figuratively saturated with their blood. In Poland we saw the worst of humanity and the best of humanity, the worst evil and the greatest love, all within 50 miles of each other. It's amazing how God works like that.

Poland was one of the most life-changing trips of the semester for me. I felt so solemn in the presence of memories of such violence and suffering, but I also felt such hope and joy in the power of God's love. The person who helped me see this the most was JPII. We watched a movie about his life on the long bus ride to Poland, and it set the tone for the entire trip. He saw so much evil right before his eyes during WWII, yet he continued to love and became one of the greatest human voices on love and human dignity. It's all about love. Love will always win in the end, because God is Love. And God wins. Evil will devour itself, yet to keep it from happening again we must win with love. We must conquer evil through love. No wonder why JPII was so passionate about love and the dignity of the human person, because he had it destroyed right in front of him. He is a living witness to the fact that man can always choose to love, no matter what evil you are faced with. That is our greatest freedom as human persons. It is our salvation, our purpose, and our meaning. We are called to love. This revelation helped us get through the trip.

Our first stop was at the shrine of Our Lady of Czestohowa (Chest-a-hova). This image of Our Lady is one of the oldest we have of her, believed to be painted by St. Luke on a piece of wood that Jesus used during His life. Many miracles have happened through this image- both to individual people and to the nation of Poland as a whole. Our Lady of Czestohowa is consecrated as the patron saint and Queen of Poland. Polish pilgrims have gone to her for centuries, pleading at her feet to save their country from destruction. JPII was one such pilgrim during the dark days of WWII. After the failed assasination attempt on his life in the 80s, he gave the Shrine the stohl that he was wearing on the day he was shot with a spot of blood on it, in honor of Our Lady and all of the ways that she had protected him throughout his life. Her most important feature, however, are 3 haggard scratches down the side of her cheek. These arrow and sword slashes were put there a few centuries ago by soldiers attacking the Shrine trying to destroy the image. Artists have done everything they can to cover these markings and "fix" her face, but each time they have miraculously come back. We talked about her in my Theology of Healing class last semester, how through these scratches she wants to show that there is beauty and meaning in brokenness, woundedness, and suffering. That God will always bring something greater out of this suffering. How perfect then, that she resides in Poland! Their entire history as a country is based on Our Lady's intercession, and they base their strong national identity around her.

Our Lady of Czestohowa is absolutely beautiful. Her gaze was so peaceful, so accepting of God's will to suffer with her Son for the sake of the Kingdom. I felt so out of place there, like I wasn't worthy enough to stand in a place where so many people have prayed fervently for their nation, people who have endured more suffering and pain that I can ever imagine. I could feel a sense of urgency in Czestohowa, which must have been in the hearts of so many Polish pilgrims as they came to pray in the midst of war. However, there was a safety here. This was the safe zone for them. We were lucky enough to have Mass right under the image, and during Communion I felt this burning go through my heart; to LOVE! Jesus and Mary told me very powerfully in my heart to always love. That love will always win out in the end. That I should always try to bring Christ's love to others. Never give up on love. This was a little present to help me get through Auschwitz and Birkenau, which was our next stop.

Auschwitz and Birkenau were very powerful places. I was scared to go in, to subject myself to that evil. I've learned about these places in school for so long, and it's always seemed like such an untouchable place of horror. So to actually be walking through the gate was surreal. I imagined the SS guards and the prisoners and the overall sense of dread- all of that is gone now, with only hallowed buildings as reminders. The sky was grey with low-lying clouds, creating an even more somber atmosphere. You could feel the oppressive evil and hatred pushing down on your heart as you walked through the buildings. Yet, at the same time, there were lights in the darkness. St. Maximillian Kolbe's cell was one such light. It was breathtaking, actually, to picture such a joyful and holy man in such a tiny ugly cell. His cell was literally in a dungeon, where prisoners sentenced to death by starvation were sent. For those who don't know his story, Fr. Kolbe was a Franciscan priest who was sent to Auchwitz. One day, a man in his barracks was sentenced to death by starvation. This man started crying, pleading with the guards to let him live because he had a wife and children that he needed to live for. Fr. Kolbe was deeply moved by this, and freely decided to sacrifice himself and stand in this man's place so that he may live. He lived for over two weeks in the starvation chamber without any food or water, and eventually had to be given a lethal injection. From eyewitness accounts, he was radiating light, peace, and joy until the very end. He had completely given his life over to Christ was was a martyr of love.

Birkenau had the famous train tracks leading right into the camp. There were barracks everywhere as far as the eye could see. We prayed a Divine Mercy chaplet as a group by the gas chambers. We sang the last decade and it was so beautiful, so peaceful- just what this place needed to soak up. The gas chambers were horrible. You could see scratch marks on the walls where clawed in panic as they were dying. There was a deadbolt on the door as we walked in. It made me sick. It was such a dark dungeon. However, I felt God's presence with me the most in that chamber. He brought so many people home to Heaven in that place. I walked the same path as millions of women, children, handicapped, and elderly did on the way to their deaths. Yet I did something none of them did- walk back out of the gas chamber alive. I get to live. I can feel their envy in a sense. I am free. I can walk out. The children affected me the most- seeing their shoes, clothes, and pictures. So many of them were killed. I felt them calling out to me, telling me to live for them because they never got the chance. To live and spread God's love into the cold evil world that killed them. That's how I can honor them. By living, but more importantly by loving.

The last few days were a lot lighter emotionally. We toured around Krakow and saw the cathedral where JPII was archbishop, where he lived, and where he studied at the university. Krakow is such an old city full of history- it was the only major city in Poland never to be bombed in WWII, and therefore is precious preservation of Polish culture. There are churches on literally every single corner- Krakow is called the Little Rome. I think that's why I felt so peaceful there, because Jesus was everywhere! We had Mass in the cathedral, at the same altar where JPII celebrated Mass. It was a Latin Mass, which so beautifully showed us the universality of the Church. We spoke English, the priest spoke Polish, yet we could communicate and pray together in Latin- the language of the Church.

We got to visit the Divine Mercy shrine, which is the convent where Sr. Faustina lived and received the Divine Mercy messages from Jesus. We said the Divine Mercy chaplet with the sisters in the convent chapel at 3pm- the hour of Mercy. The chapel is where Jesus appeared to Sr. Faustina many times, and is where her relics are. We got to venerate her relics and just soak in the mercy and love that was pouring out of this place. It's amazing how the Divine Mercy message was given right before WWII in Poland. Jesus told us that we must always forgive. Our Lady of Fatima warned of the World Wars too, saying we could avoid them if we repented and began to love one another. Heaven gave us so many signs to avoid these wars, but we did not choose to listen. Instead, we chose hate. However, this mercy is always available if we repent. Mercy is a form of love. It's how God shows His love towards creation, towards humanity. So this shrine is not just a shrine of mercy, but of LOVE! Jesus gave us His blood and water on the Cross out of burning love for us, to heal us, cleanse us, and bring us into union with the Father. So this shrine makes even more sense that it's in Poland, because it bears testimony to God's unfailing love for us even in the midst of suffering. God never leaves us. Love always conquers.

The last place we got to visit was JPII's hometown in Wadowice. The town itself is very barren and industrial- like most towns in Poland affected by Communism. However, there is a beautiful church that looms above the rest of the buildings. It was so awesome to see the church he grew up going to. He spent most of his childhood in this church, praying in front of the huge Our Lady of Perpetual Help portrait in a side chapel. My jaw dropped when I saw it, because she is the patron saint of Haiti and very close to my heart. I smiled to think that JPII had a similar devotion to her, and that it was in front of her image that he first heard the whisperings of the call to the priesthood. I spent a lot of time praying in front of her image like he did, praying for whatever my vocation is in life. There were about 100 school children in the church singing before Mass, something that would have given JPII great joy.

We all had heavy hearts as we left Poland- it was such a life-changing place for us all and many experienced significant conversion in their hearts. Praise God! This concept of love and its strength in the face of evil completely changed my perspective and set my heart on fire! No matter what suffering we go through, we can always choose love. We all have that dignity and that freedom. Love is stronger than death. Christ proved that on the Cross.

The fact that Blessed John Paul II, St. Faustina, and St. Maximillian Kolbe all rose up out of the same region in Poland within 50 years of each other and during the horrors of WWII is no coincidence. It's grace. It's God fulfilling His promise to us, that out of the ashes of suffering He will bring good. He will conquer evil and use it to bring people closer to Him. All of this, of course, was done with the intercession of Our Lady of Czestohowa, who keeps the people of Poland close to her heart always.