Multinational soldiers from Kosovo Forces cross a creek on their pilgrimage to the Church of the Black Madonna Aug. 15. For the last 400 years people throughout the Balkans have been making the pilgrimage to the church to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. pilgrimage continued from page 16
U.S. Army Pfc. Gary Burnett, a UH60 Black Hawk mechanic from Port St. Lucie, Fla. “Back home we’re very big on missions, very big on going to different countries and spreading the gospel,” said Burnett, a Florida National Guardsman. “So to be able to see someone as in?uential as Mother Theresa and where she got her calling from meant quite a lot to me.” Meier, who was able to read the Gospel during a Mass held outside the church,
enjoyed the number of missionaries of charity who were at the ceremony. “I found it especially wonderful that they were there today because that religious order got founded as a consequence, ultimately, of Mother Theresa becoming Mother Theresa subsequent to being here on the 15 of August in 1928,” said Meier. Though the pilgrimage gave KFOR soldiers the unique opportunity to participate in the ceremony and visit where Mother Theresa received her
calling, Meier also believes KFOR’s participation provided a good example to the people of the Balkans about what can happen when people of different backgrounds, religions and nationalities agree to get along with each other. “I believe that countries being able to work together, to play together, to pray together will do much more for a guarantee of peace and prosperity in the world than pretty much anything else,” said Meier.
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