A COMMON PRAYER FOR STRENGTHENING FAITH IN EUROPE
On 25 – 26 June this year, the Third National Pilgrimage of Hungarians took place at Jasna Góra, under the motto ‘Spiritual renewal from clean sources’, which was participated by nearly 800 people. The pilgrims arrived in Poland by a special train. The purpose of the national pilgrimages of the Hungarians is remembrance that both nations are connected with the Catholic faith, history and the history of the Pauline Order, which was established in Hungary and arrived in Poland from there. It was the third time when the pilgrimage of the Hungarians had been an occasion for the common prayer for strengthening faith in Europe and an expression of the Polish- Hungarian friendship.
The central point of the pilgrimage was the Holy Mass in the Chapel of the Miraculous Image of Our Lady, presided over by bishop József Tamasa from Alba lulia (in contemporary Romania),where there is Csiksomlyo – the biggest marian sanctuary of the Hungarians in the world. The pilgrims were welcomed in the Hungarian language by Father Roman Majewski, the prior of Jasna Góra, onto whose hands they gave a copy of the statue of Our Lady from Csiksomlyo as a votive offering, as an expression of gratitude for the copy of the Jasna Góra image they had received last year.
The marian sanctuary of the Hungarian nation in Csiksomlyo in Siedmiogród on the territory of Romania is run by the Franciscans. In a special message for the feast of giving the statue, the provincial of the Franciscans Father Orban Szabolcs wrote: ‘Let the mutual exchange of the copy of the miraculous image and the miraculous statue strengthen relationships between both of the sanctuaries, let it remind all people of good will of our Christian roots and the Polish-Hungarian friendship’.
Father Botond Bator, the superior of the Hungarian province of the Pauline Fathers noted that today in Europe there is a need for unity, especially at a prayer. – I think that now in Europe we need the mutual help the most. This help is a relationship mainly in the plane of faith. We started it three years ago and we must continue it – he said.
Bishop Miklos Beer, an ordinary of Vac diocese noted that the arrival in Jasna Góra in the Year of Faith has a special significance in deepening and strengthening love to God. – In the Year of Faith we are accompanied by an intention that while following the example of fathers, we should strengthen faith and what joined the Polish and Hungarian nations, like the saints: St. Kinga, St. Jadwiga or blessed John Paul II. Bishop Beer was a parish priest of the parish in Marianosztra, from where the Pauline Fathers arrived in Jasna Góra. For this reason, as he emphasized, he had arrived in the sanctuary at Jasna Góra. During the pilgrimage, the Hungarians gave wreaths at the Well of blessed Eusebius – of the Polish-Hungarian friendship and at the Epitaph of Smoleńsk. The program also included the Road of Cross on the ramparts of Jasna Góra and a concert in the hall of Father Kordecki. The pilgrims from Hungary participated in the Jasna Góra Appeal prayer and the evening vigil prayer. On 26 June the reflection was presided over by Father Botond Bator. As every year, the help and care was provided to the pilgrims, beside Father Roman Majewski, by Father Marian Waligóra from Jasna Góra, who also can speak Hungarian language. The pilgrims set off from Jasna Góra to Cracow where they visited Wawel and the sanctuary in Łagiewniki.
It was the first time when the Hungarians had arrived in Jasna Góra in 2011 in an annual pilgrimage, in order to symbolically pass the leadership to Poland in the Council of the European Union.
(AA)
"Niedziela" 27/2013