By Paulina Guzik | OSV News

CZESTOCHOWA, Poland (OSV News) — When you are born in a major pilgrimage destination, you grow up with a treasure — a national shrine and sacred image — within reach every day. I was that child, born in Czestochowa, home of the Black Madonna and a beloved place of spiritual refuge for St. John Paul II.

Every August, I watched thousands of pilgrims arrive at the Jasna Góra shrine. Many came with tears of joy, having walked hundreds of miles from every corner of Poland.