Our prayer pouch
containing hundreds of prayers from parishes throughout Vermont is on a journey longer than any one pilgrim. We are taking
seriously the responsibility of carrying those intentions and offering them up
with our own prayers night and day.
These intentions have been offered before some of the most important,
miraculous, and sacred images of Catholicism in Poland. On Wednesday, a couple pilgrims brought the prayer requests to the image of the Black
Madonna (Our Lady of Czestochowa), which is a miraculous painting that dates
back to sometime between the 11th and 13th centuries.
It once protected its
sanctuary and the fort of Jasna Gora from an invading Swedish force, far
superior in number, which finally gave up its assault after 40 days. While at Jasna Gora, we lit a candle for our
intentions at the Chapel of St. Anthony and prayed a decade of the Rosary in
front of Our Lady of Czestochowa.
On Tuesday, we were
blessed to visit the Sanctuary of St. John Paul II and the Shrine of Divine
Mercy, where we were able to venerate relics of St. John Paul II and St.
Faustina, invoking their prayers for the intentions of those who entrusted
their prayers to us. And trusting in
God’s mercy, the prayer intentions were offered to Jesus while reciting the
Divine Mercy Chaplet, for Jesus told St. Faustina: “It pleases me to grant everything asked of
me by saying the chaplet … if what you ask for is compatible with My
will.” In the side chapel of the
Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, before the original painting
of St. Faustina’s vision of Jesus under which lies the tomb of St. Faustina,
and before our Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the monstrance
for adoration, Jesus’ mercy was again invoked for the prayer intentions.
What an honor, Lord, that
you entrusted these prayers to us. We
humbly pray you will hear them and answer them according to Thy will. “O Blood and Water which gushed forth from
the heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I Trust in You."
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