Today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa, the Black Madonna. The missionary and miraculous icon of Our Lady resides at The Pauline monastery at Jasna Gora. In 1717, the image was ceremoniously crowned and Jasna Gora became the center of a Marian devotion in Poland. Having been to the Shrine, I can attest that it is a beautiful and moving place.
St. John Paul II: “Jasna Gora is the Shrine of the nation. One must put their ear to this holy place to feel the heart of the nation beating in the Mother’s Heart. And it beats, as we know, all the tones of history, all the sounds of life”.
As with Poland so here in the USA, may then”heart of the nation beating in the Mother’s Heart”, may Our Lady of Czestochowa, pray for us.