As every year, on August 29, 2021 in Our Lady of Jasna Góra Parish, the Sanctuary of St. John Paul II in Los Angeles, we celebrated the feast of our Patroness, Protector and Advocate, the Blessed Virgin Mary of Częstochowa.
This time, the Administrator of the JPII Foundation, Paulin, Father Krzysztof Wieliczko, came to us for this beautiful feast and spent the entire day with us. For us, members of the Foundation, it was also an opportunity for another meeting with Father Krzysztof and a common prayer with him.
At 10:30 a.m., after the first morning Mass, members of our Chapter from two Polish parishes in Yorba Linda and Los Angeles met with Father Krzysztof in the parish hall. Fr. Krzysztof told us about current plans and projects, and the members had the opportunity to ask questions about topics of interest regarding the activities of the JPII Foundation. (During the meeting, Mr. Jan Świder told us about his visit to the Foundation Home in Lublin and the meeting with Fr. Jan Strzałka and the Foundation’s scholarship recipients.)
After the meeting, we all went to the Church, where we prayed the Rosary together with the Litany to Saint John Paul II. At 12:00 p.m., our parish choir began singing and Fr. Krzysztof Wieliczko, along with the Pastor of our parish, Fr. Mirosław Frankowski, SChr, Priests Guests: Fr. Piotr Janas, SChr from the Parish of Holy Trinity from Chicago and Fr. Deacon Kamil Ziółkowski, entered the Church in procession. They were followed by altar servers, Mr. Edward Hofman with children in folk costumes, who represented the band “Krakusy.” At the beginning of the Holy Mass all the faithful, as always, were warmly and cordially welcomed by our Pastor Fr. Mirek Frankowski.
Of course, our guest from Rome, Father Krzysztof Wieliczko was the main celebrant of the Holy Mass. Fr. Krzysztof Wieliczko in his homily referred to today’s feast and the role of Our Lady of Jasna Góra in the history of Poland and in everyday life, of us gathered faithful.
At the end of the Holy Mass, Fr Mirek Frankowski thanked everyone for coming, the gift of common prayer and invited everyone to a parish picnic. For Father Krzysztof it was another opportunity to get to know the members of our Chapter, cordial conversations with them, as well as to mobilize many parishioners to join the JPII Foundation.
August 29, 2021 was undoubtedly a beautiful, joyful and very spiritually rich day. It was also full of good, worthy and cordial conversations and meetings. Above all, however, it gave us the opportunity to unite in common prayer. Together we could thank God for the gift of the Pontificate of St. JPII and the Foundation which bears His name. To Our Lady of Jasna Góra, we thanked for Her unceasing protection over us and our Homeland and St. JPII, who gathered us on that day for a common prayer.
Once again, we would like to thank Father Krzysztof for coming to us and having such a well spent day with us. We are grateful to our Pastor Mirek for organizing this beautiful feast. We thank all the priests for their common prayer and all the joyful experiences they provided us that day. May the Lord God always grant them His graces and protection.
Bogusława Doerr
