As the pilgrimage of the Czestochowa Icon continued in Latvia, we are observing increasing interest. The meetings are drawing crowds and there is growing interest in the media. The Mother of God was greeted in the Roman Catholic Church of The Holy Trinity in Riga on Wednesday morning. The pastor, seeing the church full of people, although it was early morning and a work day, joked that only the Mother of God could bring such crowds to the church.
Indeed, the church was full. Long lines formed before the confessional.
The next church in Riga, Christ The King church, was also filled with people. After Mass, people formed a long line, as the pastor allowed them to approach individually and touch the icon. They also applied a small picture of Our Lady with a pro-life prayer on the back to the Icon, to take it along with the blessing to their families. Emotions were high and often accompanied by tears. And it was like that everywhere!
On Tuesday the Czestochowa Icon visited the Marian shrine in Madona, where participants ceremoniously received rosaries and other pro-life materials with a request for pro-life prayers. Diana - the coordinator of the pilgrimage in Latvia - patiently set up large pictures of a child's prenatal development and distributed pro-life materials everywhere.
There was an interesting meeting with Our Lady in a nursing home for elderly men. Grandfathers greeted Mary with gallantry and great excitement. In another village of Ogre practically the entire parish and all the pilgrims went to confession. Our Lady activates our faith calls us to bear witness, to greater community involvement especially in the defense of human life.
She went through the center of Riga in the "Life Mobile". Diana rejoiced as for a long time she dreamed that people on the streets also would see Our Lady. In the old town in front of the church of St. Mary Magdalene, where night adoration was to take place, a man walked up to the now empty "Life Mobile" and said - Sir, what is it? An altar, you say? Then he shook his head and said: - I am a nonbeliever, but it's interesting, it reminds me of the "Pope-Mobile" and he went into the church to "view" the icon.