My Christmas Miracle

Those that talk to me regularly, know I've had a little bit of a struggle this year meeting new friends in Gdansk, especially friends to fill the void left by leaving St. Mary's University Parish.  I love having friends of all faith and political backgrounds, but there is something very special in sharing a common faith and being able to come together and pray.

A few weeks ago, a friend gave me a phone number for a priest that speaks English.  I was a bit apprehensive about calling him, because a self-analysis or a friend's analysis of language proficiency isn't always accurate.  For example, my Polish friends tell me I speak very well (which isn't true at all!).  Anyway, I put off calling him for almost a month out of fear that he wouldn't speak English well enough to understand me.

Last week, I decided I was being ridiculous because I NEEDED to go to Confession!  So I called Fr. Filip, and he was amazing.  He made sure I had somewhere to spend Christmas because, "we're both Christians and it wouldn't be a very Christian thing to do."  And then he mentioned his friend Fr. Andzrej works with a student group.

I called up Fr. Andrzej and he welcomed me to the group's Wigilia celebration.  Prior to arriving to the church last night, I had no idea what I was walking into...dinner, a movie, snacks, a gift exchange, a small group, a huge group, students who spoke English, etc.  Walking up the the church's activity center, I said a quick prayer that at least one student would find it in their heart to be welcoming to me.

There was absolutely no need to be worried!

Fr. Andrzej introduced me to a few students and they took it from there.  As usual, everyone was surprised that I moved from the US to Poland.  They loved that I could speak some Polish and understand even more. After a while of chatting and meeting people (including a guy everyone calls marchewka aka carrot), we started the festivities.

If you don't know, this is oplatek.

There were a few koledy, Polish Christmas carols, and then a student read a passage from Luke.  And Fr. Andrzej blessed the oplatek and proceeded to pass it out.

Although I had met these students a half hour before, and some of them never, they took my hand and wished me the most joyful Christmas and a New Year filled with love, peace, and happiness.  Some of them, when they heard my name was Stephanie, spoke in English, but the rest said these well wishes in Polish.  And the vast majority of them gave me a huge hug.  I haven't had so many hugs since my last weekend at Central Michigan almost seven months ago.  God's graces truly amazed me. 

After the oplatek, we just hung out, ate borscht and all sorts of sweets, and sang koledy.  Many were surprised to see me singing along to Dzisiaj w Betlejem and Przybieżeli do Betlejem pasterze.  Actually, it surprised me too!  I forgot that I grew up with these songs at St. Hyacinth at Pasterka on Christmas Eve.

The evening was filled with laughter, some interesting translational attempts, and so much joy!  I talked with Marchewka about our favorite books in the Bible and found out that some of the students pray the breviary.  We found this out because I pulled my iTouch out to look up a Bible verse and they had no idea there are Catholic aps.

 After the New Year (which I was invited to their big NYE party too!), I will be spending much more time with this parish.  They have activities almost every evening for students, and I might even join the student choir.  In the spirit of not counting my chickens before they hatch, I won't say it's the answer to every prayer, but I think it's pretty darn close.  And I couldn't be happier for my little Christmas miracle!