“The Jubilee Year and Pope Francis’ invitation also concerned us, working people,” says Fr. Jarosław Sutryk to Vatican media. “Therefore, as a chaplain for working people, at the moment the Jubilee Year was announced, I accepted this invitation. I also invited working people to come here to these holy places, to the holy city of Rome, to all the holy figures who lived here and today bear witness to us. Whoever chose to accept this invitation is here and has become a pilgrim of hope,” adds Fr. Sutryk.
The toil of work and the toil of pilgrimage
Over 50 people came on the pilgrimage from parishes in Radzyń Podlaski and other parishes in the Siedlce diocese. Mirosław Grodzicki, originally from the Transfiguration of the Lord parish in Łuków, now living in Warsaw, speaks about undertaking the effort of pilgrimage. “Some might think that a pilgrimage is a pleasant pastime, but here we must undertake effort. We must also find time for reflection and prayer. We have a great group, it’s good to spend time with these people. For me, to pilgrimage is to place hope in the Lord God, to entrust myself to Him, to surrender and wait for graces,” testifies Mirosław Grodzicki.
Fr. Jarosław Sutryk adds that working people pilgrimaging to Rome during the Jubilee Year know that one cannot stop only at what is temporal, but must live with the hope of eternal life. “The toil of work, the effort, is to serve and help not only to satisfy temporal needs and desires, but is to prepare us to achieve what is our calling, which is eternal life,” he added.
Get off the couch and go to people
He recalls the papal call from World Youth Day in Krakow in 2016, when Francis urged people to get off the couch and go out into the world, to bring Christ to others. “That’s why we are here,” says Fr. Jarosław Sutryk.
One of the pilgrims, Wiesław Kędziora from the parish of St. John the Baptist in Krynka, explains in an interview with Vatican Radio – Vatican News that, in accordance with Francis’ call, one should go out to people, to neighbors, to acquaintances and spend time with them. “When I do that, I am already doing something good. Of course, one should focus on work, but above all on people, so that they know that someone wants to be with them, talk, cooperate, live with them,” Wiesław Kędziora pointed out.
He adds that his colleagues motivated him to come to Rome. “One is busy, because there are some work commitments, but I am grateful to them, because it is very important to be here. Six months ago, I didn’t even think about it,” he said.
A great desire to come to Rome
Renata Bąbol from the Holy Trinity parish in Radzyń Podlaski also had a great desire to come on the pilgrimage for working people. Today she runs a sole proprietorship. “As soon as I learned about the Holy Year, I felt a great desire to come. It was possible to realize it,” she added, not hiding her joy. Recalling Pope Francis, she emphasizes that for her he was primarily a very humble man, with many words of support for the poor, the needy, the lost. “He was a pope for the people, I liked that very much,” she recalled.
Jarosław Zaprzalski from the Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Radzyń Podlaski, on the other hand, recalls another image from Francis’ pontificate. “What stuck with me most was the event when the Pope prayed alone in St. Peter’s Square for the removal of the COVID epidemic. He took upon his shoulders the prayer for the health of all people in the world,” he emphasized. He added that since the Pope invited him, as a working man, to the jubilee, he came. He himself tries to live by the maxim “Ora et labora,” because, as he says, one should pray and do what everyone has to do, and the Creator himself will arrange all matters.
