Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia

We seem to be working our way through the Eastern bloc this month.  This week, the two countries that used to make up Czechoslovakia and Poland.  It's hard as someone who really only identifies as an American to fully grasp what it must be like to be from a country like one of these, which for so long was dominated by more powerful nations, whether Soviet or Nazi (or Austro-Hungary or Prussian).  The Czech Republic is considered one of the most secular nations in Europe, while Poland seems to have a pretty sturdy strand of faith.

When I was a kid, it was still considered acceptable to tell Polish jokes.  Of course, at that time and place, we didn't know much about Poland or anyone who was from there (at least, nobody who admitted it after hearing all those corny jokes).  Now, things are a little different.  Pope John Paul II, as the first Polish pope,  whether you're Catholic or not, has reframed what it means to be Polish in far more positive ways.  

This is a small thing, but my church has a Polish mission.  That is, there is a Polish priest and a little church that meets in our buildings comprised of Polish-speakers, and they have mass in their language.  So that's an easy pray-for for me this week.