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Walking the Wounds of History: A Way of the Cross Through Warsaw’s Pain and Hope
Dariusz Pielak SVD
The SVD confreres visited places marked by Nazi persecution, the 1944 Uprising, the Holocaust, and the Soviet invasion of 1920. At the Pawiak prison museum, which honors victims of war, they also commemorated the Verbite martyrs of World War II, during which the Polish Province lost 24% of its confreres.
These historic sites became powerful stations for prayer for today’s global wounds—victims of war, human trafficking, and child exploitation.
However, the Way of the Cross was not only about mourning past tragedies. It began at the very location where Pope John Paul II delivered his famous words: “Let your Spirit come and renew the face of the earth, of this land!”—words that many believe sparked the changes leading to the fall of communism.
The pilgrimage concluded at the convent where Saint Faustina Kowalska—messenger of Divine Mercy—entered religious life, a fitting place to close a prayerful walk dedicated to compassion and reconciliation for a world still in need of healing.
