Hundreds of faithful, gathered in the Naklo parish church, greeted the Icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa. It did not matter to them that the wait had been prolonged by almost an hour. Many, with tears of emotion, greeted the peregrinating Icon, which had arrived on Thursday at Naklo on the Notec River.
At 15:00 (3:00 p.m.), the Chaplet of Divine Mercy began. From that moment on the anticipation and vigil began at the Naklo parish church and on the church square, outside. With prayer and song on their lips, they awaited the arrival of the Icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa. The visitation of the peregrinating Czestochowa Icon, traveling "from Ocean to Ocean" in defense of life is a great honor for Naklo and the parish of St. Lawrence, since in all of the Diocese of Bydgoszcz, the Icon has stopped only here and at the Cathedral of Bydgoszcz.
Monsignor Grzegorz Nowak greeted the Icon in front of the church – the pastor of the parish together with the priests of the entire Naklo district. Among them was the coordinator of the peregrination for the diocese, Father Arkadiusz Muzolf, the diocesan director of family ministry.
The Brothers of the Society of St. Wojciech brought the Icon into the church and placed it by the altar. After a solemn welcome with singing followed a time of silence, during which everyone could present their own petitions and prayers of thanksgiving before the Black Madonna.
We carefully listen to the words of Christ, who in today's Gospel says to us: "This is my commandment: love one another as I loveyou. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you"(J 15, 12-14). If God will be first in marriage and in the family, then everything will fall into place (St. Augustine). Yet this will only happen, if we continue developing that spiritual life in our families – rang the words of the musical montage. The recitation of the Holy Rosary ended the celebration.
The coming of the Czestochowa Icon to Naklo was met with great interest from the media. There hasn't been such a number of cameras, photographers and news reporters, especially at a religious gathering, in Naklo for a long time.
- Interpretation by Elizabeth Carlos of original Polish text by Magdalena Bąkowska