This
is my first blog post from my spring break trip of 2016 of my junior year. This year, I decided to study abroad for the
week in Oswiecim, Poland. For those of
you who do not know, in German, this town is known as Auschwitz. I cannot tell
you what made me decide to study here, except that the course seemed really
interesting in its uniqueness of opportunity.
Other than that, for some strange reason I felt like this was going to
be a good experience for me. I can’t
explain it with words. However, I can
firmly tell you that God brings us to places in our lives and we may not know
exactly why at the moment, but he reveals to us slowly but surely in ways we
would never expect.
That being said, we started our first
full day in Poland with a trip to Whometown of the famous Karol
Wajtyla. Of course you know this name! If your like me and you didn’t, this is the
name of the man who came to be known nationally as Pope John Paul II. I did not realize how remarkable of a man he
was. As a boy Karol had a variety of
backgrounds. He played soccer, kayaked,
performed in theatre, wrote poetry, and loved to ski. After wanting to first
become an actor, Karol changed his path and decided to study to become a
priest. His various well-rounded background definitely gives life to his legacy
as life-loving human being.
Something
that struck me about Pope John Paul II is his passion to push for peace
and forgiveness. The first thing I
witnessed upon entering the museum is a copy of the prayer he said at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on March
26, 2000 that reads:
“God of our fathers, you chose Abraham and his
descendants to bring Your name to the nations: we are deeply saddened by the
behavior of those who in the course of history have caused these children of
Yours to suffer and asking Your forgiveness, we wish to commit ourselves to
genuine brotherhood with the people of the Covenant.”
This prayer touched my heart in the sake that
he truly did his best to hold utmost respect for all peoples in his attempt to
seek peace between the Jewish and Christian faith. This was a sensitive topic to address but he
spoke about it with an open heart and with genuine love.
His ability to
forgive is powerful too as we learned about how he forgave Mehmet Ali Ağca. This is the man who
attempted to assassinate him on May 13 1981.
Pope John Paul visited the man in prison and developed a friendship with
him. It is hard for some of us to not yell at the Toyota Corolla who cuts us
off on the highway without putting their blinker on. Pope John Paul II was able to be at peace
with a man who tried to take his life! To be able to forgive and love your
enemies is a foundational teaching of the Church and he truly embodied this in
an empowering way.
The most
moving part of the museum trip for myself was a room that had walls covered
with letters that were handwritten to the former pope. These prayer requests were
sent during the time of his papacy and from people all over the world. They
ranged from a variety of problems, but two of them that I distinctly remember
were from parents asking the pope to pray that their children would come back
to God. This was so touching to see that
he received such deep concerns for forgiveness and peace for peoples’ loved
ones with God. I was saddened at first but a strong sense of hope came about
when I realized that these parents still believed through the power of prayer that
God would listen to them.
Pope John
Paul II was an inspirational man. Learning about him through his actions of
peace and forgiveness was a perfect introduction for this week.
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