Route starts from the centre of Lipik, by the visit to the church of St. Francis of Assisi and heads towards Dobrovac. The first stop is in front of the Chapel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Dobrovac. It continues towards Brezine where you can visit a beautiful wooden chapel of St. Andrew. After the parish church of St. Catherine the martyr and virgin in Gaj, the road takes you to Antunovac where you stop at the church of St. Anthony The farthest point of this route is Marino Selo, and its church of St. John the Baptist. From the green meadow, which surrounds the church, you can see the outlines of the fishpond where freshwater fish is cultivated. On the way back to Lipik first stop is in Brekinska, where one can find the church of St. Michael, and second by the chapel of St. Anthony in Kukunjevac. You end up at the same place you started from, in the centre of Lipik.
Type
Bicycle route with sacral heritage elements - advanced
Technical description
Lipik - Dobrovac - Brezine - Gaj - Antunovac - Marino Selo - Brekinska - Kukunjevac - Lipik
Length
52 km
Height difference (max)
30 m
Duration
5 hours
Place of departure and end
Lipik
Base
Asphalt and macadam
Route difficulty
Moderate
Spiritual guidelines - By bike – an advanced sacral route
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (1 Cor 9: 24-27)
The quality of anyone who has succeeded in something is serious commitment. No one in the history of sports has achieved top sports results without devoting himself significantly and radically to it. No one in the history of the Church has become holy without a radical decision. But great decisions in sports and in life do not come by themselves, suddenly or at the big door. What we recognize as winning a competition or canonization for a saint is just the culmination of a long journey of uncompromising step towards the goal. What we recognize as current and a great heroic deed is most often only the result of a long daily effort in the same direction.
One story from the life of St. Francis tells how his brothers found him one day burning a basket on which he had been working intensively for the past few days. They asked why he was doing this and if something was wrong with the basket. Francis replied that everything was fine with the basket, but it occupied his thoughts immensely during the evening prayer, so he decided to burn it and make a new one.
From our comfortable perspective, this story may seem unnecessarily radical, but St. Francis wanted to belong to God completely, he invested all his efforts in that goal, and he did not regret any effort. He has been confirming this every day, in small and insignificant things, and those daily decisions led him to holiness. With his authenticity, St. Francis attracted many and even today, more than 800 years later, his attitude continues to attract people. Saint John the Baptist is another example of radical intercession for his own, ie. from a believer’s perspective, for God’s ideals. Precisely because of his devotion, people flocked to the desert to listen to him, noticing that what he preached was indeed alive.
What compromises in our lives do we consider harmless? What side goals do we pay attention to? Are we ready to commit to something radical in life?
Lipik - Dobrovac (3 km) - Brezine (9 km) - Gaj (7 km) - Antunovac (4 km) - Marino Selo (3 km) - Brekinska (12 km) –Kukunjevac (10 km) - Lipik (7 km)
TOTAL 52 km
