Dear sisters, dear brothers, When I wrote my previous letter from Ukraine at the beginning of August, no one expected that the world would soon be watching with surprise and pain the events of another war. This time, war in the territory of the state of Israel in the Gaza Strip. The media bore the information about thousands of dead…
Fr. Jarosław describes the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the fear and unrest it has caused. Despite this, the people of Ukraine are celebrating their traditional Day of Vyshyvanka. He talks also about he recent visit of the Master of the Order, who awarded the “Benemerenti” medal to volunteers from the House of Saint Martin de Porres in Fastiv, Ukraine.
Fr. Jarosław describes the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the fear and unrest it has caused. Despite this, the people of Ukraine are celebrating their traditional Day of Vyshyvanka. He talks also about he recent visit of the Master of the Order, who awarded the “Benemerenti” medal to volunteers from the House of Saint Martin de Porres in Fastiv, Ukraine.
Dear Sisters, Dear Brothers, There is a painted icon of Our Lady Orans of Kyiv on the wall of a street bomb shelter in Kherson. These small, safe shelters made out of cement, located at bus stops, are called “hideouts” in Ukrainian. The original of the icon is found in a mosaic on the dome of the Sophia Sobor, one…
Dear sisters, dear brothers, My last letter contained a moving testimony of the pain that is tearing apart the hearts of many Ukrainian women. Men are suffering in the same way — because their girlfriends, mothers, and wives are also dying on the front lines. Many of them are serving in the ranks of the Ukrainian Army as medical personnel.…
Dear sisters, dear brothers, I’ve been waiting to send this letter until Father Misha and hisvolunteers from the House of Saint Martin de Porres are safely on theirway back to Fastiv. They left yesterday with the humanitarian transportto Kherson. Unfortunately I couldn’t join them, so I’m only gettingreports over the telephone. These days Kherson is very dangerous becauseboth the city…
Dear sisters, dear brothers, I never thought that one could long for lights. When I got off the Kyiv train in Warsaw, I was surprised by the festival of brightly lit streets, buildings, and, above all, colorful Christmas decorations. When you add to it the snow that just fell in Poland in abundant supply, it all looked like a New…
Dear sisters, dear brothers, Once again Fr. Misha, the volunteers from Saint Martin, and I traveled to Izium and Balakliya. This time we were joined by Mr. Bartosz Cichocki, the Polish ambassador to Ukraine. He’s one of the diplomats who didn’t abandon their posts in Kyiv at the beginning of the war. He and his wife Monika strongly support all…
Dear Sisters, Dear Brothers, I did not expect how euphoric the Ukrainians’ joy would be after the liberation of Kherson. This city, one of the most important in the south, had been under Russian occupation for 256 days. I’ve heard many times from Father Misha about his dream to finally load the cars and personally deliver aid to the people…
Dear sisters, dear brothers, “We are asking for prayers. Today is a terrible day. Multiple rockets are flying over us. Explosions in Kyiv; we have dead and wounded casualties. Similar situations in many larger cities. I haven’t slept in a couple days. I am afraid. I have started to feel overwhelmed.” — This is the message I received at 8am…
