A member of a local church who returned recently from a pilgrimage to Poland and Italy has described the journey as spiritually uplifting.
Twenty-nine travellers from Innisfail and the area attended the two-week trip which included visits to several holy sites, including the Vatican where the group was able to see Pope Francis during a papal audience on May 1. A papal audience offers people a chance to see the Pope. They occur on Wednesdays when he is in Rome.
Innisfail resident Anne Ivan described it as a hot, sunny day when the Pope navigated his way through a large crowd of people in St. Peter's Square. Ivan captured a photograph of the Pope as he passed her group in an open-top vehicle.
“There we were, body to body in this huge place and there was a path through the crowd and that is where he rode in his little vehicle waving to everybody,” Ivan said.
Ivan said she was moved when she saw the Pope motion to a family in a crowd to bring a baby over for a hug and a kiss.
“It was really just special to watch because he is so genuine. The Pope is such a genuine, humble people person.”
The pilgrimage was organized by Innisfail's Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church. A pilgrimage is defined basically as a spiritual journey. A pilgrimage typically involves visiting at least one shrine or sacred place that holds importance to one's beliefs.
Ivan said the group's journey was very much a spiritual one.
“It was very much so. Father (Adam Daniluk) was very concerned that it be that. That was in his heart to do.”
The journey included daily prayers, daily meditations and regular masses. The group visited three spiritually significant places per day, Ivan said. The group visited such famous sites as the Shrine of the Black Madonna near Warsaw, the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy near Krakow and St. Mark's Basilica at Venice, among others.
The group returned home on May 3. Ivan said she returned feeling “spiritually uplifted.”
“It was an unforgettable and life-changing experience that I don't think I'll forget,” she said.
Father Adam Daniluk is originally from Poland. He has been the priest at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church in Innisfail for the past four years. He said a pilgrimage can help strengthen one's religious beliefs.
“Going on a pilgrimage definitely deepens one's faith because there are many occasions for individual and/or group praying, reflecting and meditating at the various holy places that are being visited. These holy place like the Czestocchowa with its Black Madonna, Lanciano with its Miraculous Host, St. Peter's with an audience with Pope Francis or Assisi with its reminders of St. Francis and St. Clare, all serve to enrich a person's appreciation of the miracles that have occurred there and the strong Christian examples of the saints who lived and served there,” he said.
“Participating in masses at such holy places also makes a person feel as if he/she is closely and heavenly connected to these devoted followers of Christ such as blessed Pope John Paul II, Sister Faustina, Padre Pio and St. Anthony. Doing the mass readings or intercessions, leading and/or singing the hymns, translating homilies, serving as an altar server, leading and praying the Rosary of the Divine Mercy litany, also provided everyone in the group with an occasion to serve in a special way during this pilgrimage and thereby move closer to God. After experiencing such holy places and faith-filled people, a person's own faith changes to one of greater trust and understanding of God's plan for everyone here on earth.”
