headEuroazjaAm EN 8

 

The subsequent meeting with Our Lady in the Icon of Czestochowa in Slovakia took place on September 4th, at the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Banská Bystrica, where Our Lady arrived at the Nitra Calvary of the Divine Word missionaries.  Father Marian Bublinec, the administrator of the Diocese of Banská Bystrica, welcomed Our Blessed Mother.  He celebrated the Liturgy of the Eucharist assisted by sixteen other priests. 

During the homily, the Dean, Fr. Jaroslav Pecha referred to the current attitude of prioritizing "to have more," only then followed by a secondary desire "to be" – in order to live life to the fullest and to have power.  The Blessed Virgin strengthens our faith, and for this we need to beg Her unceasingly.

A large crowd of people included numerous tourists from France and Belgium, who were unusually interested in this event and took photos of the Icon and the Life Mobile.  They received the leaflets with the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa and the Act of Entrustment of the Protection of the Civilization of Life and Love, which turned out to be a successful way of "beyond border" evangelization.

Further places of the visitation of Our Lady were Valaská and Brezno.  The coordinators of the peregrination from the "Forum Żivota" movement were received very kindly there.  People were beaming with joy, grateful that Our Lady has also come to visit them.  The stops were short at these locations, but were filled with prayer, and met with great enthusiasm and genuine devotion to Our Blessed Mother.  In Brezno, people prayed without removing the Icon from the Life Mobile, since there was no more time to do that, but people were very happy just to see Our Lady.  The schedule for the day was full and the Icon was travelling quickly to get to Poprad.  The people forming the escort for the Icon in the Life Mobile had no chance to stop to eat, nor fill up the car with gas.  Unfortunately, along this route, one of the cars "went on strike."  At that point it became clear again how much the team leading the peregrination is unified and devoted to Our Lady.  The most crucial task was to deliver the Icon to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows in Poprad before 6:00 pm (18:00 hours), where the Holy Mass, celebrated by Bishop Štefan Sečka – the ordinary of the Diocese of Spiš, was to begin promptly.  This celebration was to be broadcast live by "Radio Lumen".  They made it there in time!

Late that evening, at 8:30pm, the Icon arrived at the Redemptorist Convent in Kežmark, where many young people were awaiting Our Lady, including some visitors from Germany.  The veneration of the Icon lasted all night long.