The gift of warm clothing makes a world of difference to young and old who cannot escape the war in Ukraine.
It is very important that people in Ukraine know that others still help them and that they are not forgotten. People in Ukraine are trying to sustain hope, and they still rely on our help and prayers.
By Chris Sparks
Continue to say the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, to obtain the peace of the world and the end of the war, because only she can obtain it. — Our Lady at Fatima, Portugal, July 13, 1917
Two years ago, on Feb. 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. The war drags on, and ordinary folks continue to suffer.
But your prayers and financial support have given hope to those caught in the crossfire.
“Once again, I want to thank our donors, on behalf of my confreres in Ukraine, for their support and prayers for peace in Ukraine,” said Fr. Wojciech “Wojtek” Jasinski, MIC, general treasurer for the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, based in Rome.
Not forgotten
Since the start of the war, the Marian Fathers and the Association of Marian Helpers, especially through the Marian apostolates Healthcare Professionals for Divine Mercy and Eucharistic Apostles of The Divine Mercy (EADM), have raised more than $1.5 million for humanitarian aid and medical supplies.
“It is very important that people in Ukraine know that others still help them and that they are not forgotten,” said Fr. Wojtek. “People in Ukraine are trying to sustain hope, and they still rely on our help and prayers.”
Last September, Fr. Wojtek met with the Marian superior and pastor in Gorodok in western Ukraine, the place of the Shrine of St. Anthony of Padua and the Marians’ Mercy House for disabled and elderly people.
“He told me that the most challenging matter they deal with now is to sustain hope and not despair,” Fr. Wojtek explained. “It has been a long war. It is almost impossible to imagine how it might end up. In Gorodok and our other parishes, they provide daily support, material and spiritual, for the parishioners, mostly elderly and women, because most of the men are fighting. They are trying to extend Mercy House’s capacity to accept more people who need shelter.”
Hospital workers display the Ukrainian flag beside boxes of supplies obtained thanks to Marian Helpers’ donations.
Pray, pray, pray!
While your financial contributions are life-saving, your prayers for peace are even more important. Remember what Jesus told St. Faustina:
[W]rite this for the many souls who are often worried because they do not have the material means with which to carry out an act of mercy. Yet spiritual mercy, which requires neither permissions nor storehouses, is much more meritorious and is within the grasp of every soul (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 1317).
It can be tempting to feel like our prayers are useless, or too small, or not a real response to the evils confronting the Ukrainian people. Yet salvation history proves otherwise. Prayer has redirected the course of battle in many instances across Jewish and Christian history.
Let us, with prayers, words, and deeds (see Diary, 742) put a limit on evil. Let us continue to help the poor suffering people in Ukraine in any way we can.
Please visit Marian.org/Ukraine or call 1-800-462-7426 to make a donation for Ukraine relief. One hundred percent of funds received are sent directly to Ukraine and used to purchase humanitarian aid and medical supplies.
More news on Ukraine.
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