Inspired by
the teachings of Sts. John Paul II and Maximilian Kolbe, sculptor MARIUSZ DRAPIKOWSKI and Piotr
Ciołkiewicz, president of the Comunità Regina della Pace (Queen of Peace
Community), have the aim to bring perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
for the intention of world peace across the globe
Piotr
Pajestka explains “The objective of the Association is to promote prayer for
peace during the direct encounter with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. We pray
for the gift of peace for the world, but also for the grace to experience peace
in our hearts.”
One way of accomplishing this is through "12 Stars in the Crown of Mary,
Queen of Peace", a project to create twelve Prayer Centers in places affected
by armed conflicts, lack of understanding between peoples and religions, both currently and in the past. The first
Center was established at the fourth Station of the Cross in Jerusalem, but has since been moved to the
Chapel of the Milk Grotto in Bethlehem.
The
12 stars in the name refer to “the crown of 12 stars” on Mary’s head mentioned
in the Book of Revelation. The monstrance in each of the eight existing centers
for perpetual adoration refers to this image of Mary.
Studio, a workshop run by the father-and-son team of Mariusz and Kamil
Drapikowski, designed all the monstrances. “Our inspiration for designing these
monstrances comes from reading sacred Scripture and the exegesis of St. John
Paul II and Pope Benedict.”
The eight
existing “stars” in the Crown of Mary, Queen of Peace are found in areas that
have been ravaged by conflict, bringing adoration to those in particular need.
The second
center of perpetual adoration for peace to be opened was in the Sanctuary of
Our Lady, Queen of Peace in Ozernoye,
Kazakhstan,
near the geographic center of the Eurasian landmass and the site of the
suffering of many peoples under Josef Stalin. Asia’s second center is in Dagupan in the Philippines,
a country currently ravaged by terrorist attacks sponsored by the Islamic State.
The
monstrances are now found in Namyang,
South
Korea. The Namyang Center of Prayer for
Peace was opened after Drapikowski and Ciołkiewicz heard of Korean pilgrims in
Medjugorje walking up the Cross
Mountain on their knees
to pray for the reconciliation of their nation. The Korean center took on a
more concrete shape later, when Michał Rzepka, a Pole who lives in South Korea,
and his Korean wife, Agnes, supported this initiative. Several months later,
the world was surprised as the leaders of North
Korea began talks with their peers in South Korea and the United States.
According to
Drapikowski, Father Francis Xavier Lee Sang Gak, the custodian of the Namyang
prayer center, is convinced that the North’s slow opening to the world is
related to the perpetual adoration set in motion in 2017.Africa continues to be a land marked by conflict, and both African
Centers of Prayer for Peace were established in sites of great human suffering.
The first is in Kibeho, Rwanda,
the site of Marian apparitions in the 1980s and the place where the horrors of
the 1994 Rwandan genocide occurred. The other African site is located in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast.
In Europe they are found in Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina. and Niepokalanów, Poland. This city is just outside Warsaw,
which suffered more than any other city during World War II, with 85% of its
buildings destroyed and most of its inhabitants killed or displaced.
Two more are planned for the Americas,
one for Australia and
another for
Papua New Guinea.
Monstrances:
Top - Kazakhstan
Left - Niepokalanów, Poland
Right-
Rwanda
Left-
Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina
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