> Am Kahlen <

Medebach-Glindfeld (51.199865 | 8.676812)

Dispose of your worries

Old Marien pilgrimage church in the middle of nature, at the end of the historic Way of the Cross from Glindfeld up to the summit of <Kahlen>

For the two elderly ladies from Medebach, this bench is a refueling station. When they make a pilgrimage to the "Kahlen", they first pray to Mary, "Comforter of the Afflicted", in the upper chapel. Then they walk a few steps down the slope to the burial chapel, which shows the body of Jesus. And then they sit down on this bench. Today I am allowed to join them.

The flat valley of Glindfeld stretches out in front of us, with a former monastery in the meadow on the right and the tops of 63-metre-high Douglas firs jutting out of the mixed forest opposite. The undulating, gently rounded contour lines of the mountains, says one of them, seem like green clouds to her; in fact, the shapes of the green on the earth and the Wissen in the sky look amazingly similar. The other sees "green-colored sheep's wool", covering the mountain ridges with softness. One feels protected by the roundness of the surrounding mountains, the other appreciates the view far into the country. I can understand both.

We sit in silence. Until one of them tells me: "It was 50 years ago. My father drove off with a tractor and trailer to fetch fodder. My nine-year-old brother was supposed to ride along and operate a brake on the back. When he tried to jump off, he got caught between the drawbar and the trailer. His father had to roll him over to get him free. He desperately carried the boy until he could take no more. Then a car finally came by. My brother made it to hospital in time, he barely survived. My father sank into guilt and silence. My mother was different. She went to the chapel and thanked Mary for saving her son."

Then the other one says: "I still have eight siblings. In the years after the war, our parents didn't know how to fill so many hungry bellies. One day, all the supplies were used up, my father was at a loss and my mother was desperate. She made a pilgrimage to the Kahlen and entrusted her worries to the Sorrowful Mother. When she came home, there was a sack of potatoes on the doorstep." The two of them tell me these stories "so that you understand why these chapels are so important to us people from Medebach".

One tells of Good Friday: "Thousands walk the Way of the Cross. The first ones even before sunrise. Many with the procession in the morning. But many also walk alone. I am one of them. Walking at my own pace. With my own concerns. There is always one. Whether I'm praying for my daughter's pregnancy to go well. Or because one of the children is about to take an important exam. Sometimes everything is just fine, then I pray that it stays that way." The other talks about the Sauerland Mountain Club hike: "On May 1st, we celebrate mass in the square in front of the chapel. I always get to choose the topic for the sermon. Usually the topic for the sermon is 'Preserving creation'. I think that's good."

One of them says that as children they were allowed to look for Easter eggs on the way back from the Good Friday procession: "Search and find - yes, but don't eat them! After all, that was a day of fasting." The other points to the steep, only slightly winding path down to Glindfeld, another Way of the Cross that leads to the monastery: "Two of my brothers once built a bobsled out of sheet steel. It was really streamlined, with handlebars at the front and brakes at the back with sharp teeth. In winter, we dragged the bob here, to the start of the path. The two of them got on at the front, I was allowed to be the brakeman. And then we went down the mountain at a monkey's pace. Today you'd say it was the ultimate thrill."

What draws them here again and again? The chapel is dedicated to the "Seven Sorrows of Mary". She is suffering when the prophet Simeon prophesies that her son will cause her much sorrow. She stands under the cross as he suffers the agonies of hell. She has to endure the pain as she lays the martyred body in the grave. A strong woman, say the two strong women from Medebach, a compassionate one, a role model. Anyone who has carried themselves and their worries up the mountain can unload them in prayer. "I feel relieved afterwards," says one of them. "I find my peace again," says the other.

Author: Michael Gleich