A Typical Day during the Wroclaw Pilgrimage

Morning

The day usually begins early in the morning with a wakeup call. The singing of songs resounds in the morning mist as the pilgrims wash, gather their baggage, and, in many cases, pack their tents. The pilgrimage starts. Slowly, a crowd of people begins to gather on the road. Nobody can quite explain how this happens, but with the passage of days this sometimes sleepy crowd of people becomes one big family. In the morning silence, you can hear the whispers of the first prayers. The first talk indicates what the topic for reflection on that day will be.

The Walk during the Day and Other Highlights…

Everyday is filled to the brim with all sorts of prayers: the rosary, Angelus, moments of silence and reflection, Mass, the Divine Mercy chaplet, the “open microphone,” and pilgrims giving testimonies of their faith. All this is interspersed with singing and all sorts of expressions of joy that are ever-present during the pilgrimage. Perhaps it is this spontaneously arising joy that brings this huge group of people who for the most part don’t know each other together. Or maybe that joy is simply a symptom of something deeper, an ongoing process that is invisible to the naked eye.

Evening

The pilgrims arrive at the place where they will spend the night in the late afternoon. Once again, many of them will pitch their tents, wash, and have a meal. At around nine in the evening, we pray the Jasna Góra Appeal; it is somewhat joyous and somewhat meditative. Then we say goodnight. When night falls, everything is quiet and the sound of the breathing of sleeping people resounds from the tents. All this happens on the road to Jasna Góra.