Author: circleoflifeyouth

The White Crown of Purity and the Red Crown of Martyrdom.

I believe we know the latter pretty well, concerning our Franciscan patron, but what will help us delve more deeply into our final days in Warsaw can best be framed through the lens of Mary’s great FIAT and what that meant in terms of how we are called to interpret our desires and act accordingly. Sr. Caryn Crush’s story has intersected our small pilgrimage contingency in a manner akin to sheer Divine Providence, and today has proven to follow that model quite nicely. Continue reading “Day 6 – Purity of Desire”

Saying goodbye to Niepekelanow was very difficult, for we knew we could have stayed there for days, weeks, or months longer. In truth, I know in my heart that God will call me back to this place one day, and so I wasn’t worried about our early departure. As I said before, these experiences have awakened desires and callings within me that have lain dormant and hidden within my own soul in ways I can’t even begin to articulate. Spiritual Direction will help me through that though, NOT this blog, so God will eventually reveal His Plans for me and all of us on this pilgrimage…just as He reveals them in each of us: through the slow passage of time, even if it’s long after our deaths. Continue reading “Day 5, Part 2 – Blessed Are the Merciful”

We are pilgrims, not tourists!

That’s what I wanted to express as I shaved and chose the most low-key shirt I brought from home. Yet, the jokes still came, good-natured as they were. Morning prayer with our wonderful contingency began what would become one of the most powerful days in our lives! I chose the old “St. Luke’s Unity in the Community” t-shirt from 1995 when the parish was petitioning the Archdiocese of Louisville to remain open as a viable parish in the region. Those were difficult days for that small Kentucky parish in Okolona, but the unity they encountered was enough to bring about the redemption that has blessed us on this pilgrim journey. Continue reading “Day 5, Part 1 – Niepokalanow”

Raymond Kolbe was playing around as a normal five-year-old little boy one day when his mother scolded him saying, “Raymond, what will ever become of you?!” Later in life, that same man recounted how deeply this experience affected him. He described taking this question to the Blessed Mother, most likely Our Lady of Czestochowa, in great distress. Immediately, she appeared to him holding two crowns, a white crown symbolic of purity, and a red crown for martyrdom. She asked him which crown he wanted, and as a typical young boy would say, he wanted them BOTH! Continue reading “Day 4 – WWII & The Victory of the Cross”

Welcome back everyone! Today has been full and blessed in ways we could have never prepared to receive. And that’s what it has been about, receiving these beautiful people and their hospitality. Tonight’s reflection then calls to mind all the many moments we encountered along the way.  Continue reading “Day 3 – Mercy is Family”

This morning feels like ages ago. Packing for the trip of a lifetime being as exhausting as it is, we were finally ready to sit down together and breathe it all in as we awaited Fr. Joe’s procession to begin our first Mass together as a group. The silence was deafening as we listened to the word of God, anticipating the glorious signs that lay before us.  Continue reading “Day 1 & 2 – Our Long Awaited Arrival”

Mercy.

This is where we begin our incredible journey to World Youth Day in Kraków, Poland during the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy! Our small but mighty crew of pilgrims have been preparing for this journey for months now, and the story behind our FIAT is quite a tale of intrigue. Continue reading “Fueling the Fire of Mercy: A Pilgrim’s Journal BEGINS”