What a way to finish off this wonderful week spending the day with our Polish families and friends. After a hearty Polish breakfast we joined with our hosts for the Parish Mass at 11a.m. We had the honour of providing a choir and music for Mass, conducted by the Lisa and Niamh. Mass settings and hymns reflected the rich Irish liturgical music tradition, and the beautiful tones of “Ag Chríost an Síol” visibly moved many of the Polish parishioners.
Fr. Mark at the end of Mass thanked the great generosity of the families who reflected the corporal work of mercy – Welcome the stranger. Although we were strangers to the host families, baptism makes us no longer strangers but family in Christ and that was something so evident over the last few days.
After Mass families brought us to enjoy Sunday lunch with them. Polish Mammies and Irish Mammies are the same – they made us feel very welcomed and ensured we were comfortable and had plenty of food to eat. We certainly tasted the Polish Goscinnosc or hospitality.
In the afternoon some of us enjoyed a siesta while others toured Płock, went swimming, sightseeing and even a short pilgrimage to the place of Blessed Popiełuszko, martyr of the worker movement Solidarity. This evening we gathered around a bonfire with other international pilgrims and got to perform “St Patrick, The Musical!” As we leave Plock, bound for Krakow, we express a heartfelt “Dziekuje Bardzo” to the Diocese of Płock.
(Barry White)
