My ministry in Ukraine

My ministry in Ukraine

Mar 17, 2022 | NEWS

My ministry in Ukraine began 20 years ago. On April 12, 2002, I left for our post in Sąsiadowice, a town in western Ukraine. Our activity there was focused on being and supporting the local people. We visited the sick, the elderly and the lonely. We served pastoral and charitable services in the parish. People were very kind and grateful. They often talked about their life during the Soviet Union. There were two denominations in the village: Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic, but there were no great divisions. Greek Catholic believers willingly came to us for services, especially for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. We also celebrated holidays together. After several years of activity in Sąsiadowice, our Congregation received an invitation and a request from the bishop to start pastoral and missionary activities in Koziatyn, in the eastern part of Ukraine. The further east of Ukraine, more people need spiritual care and missionary activities. The superiors of the Congregation decided to move our mission from Sąsiadowice to Koziatyn, we went there in 2006. People were very happy with our arrival. The parish and church were very neglected and people felt abandoned. At the beginning, we lived in the apartment of one of the parishioners. From the very first day, the parishioners were of great help. We could count on them in everything we needed so that we would only stay there. After two weeks, the bishop also visited us to see how we live. There was a great need for our presence in Koziatyn and we felt it very much, and it gave us additional strength to start our mission there. After some time, the Congregation decided to start building its own house in Koziatyn with rooms for pastoral activities. A common room and rooms for children were created in the new building. We also had plenty of food for anyone who was hungry. We also visited the sick, the lonely and the elderly. It was through the conversations during these visits that I learned the history of Ukraine. Older people were eager to talk about their past and many difficult experiences. I heard what these people experienced in their youth. Their attitude towards us was also touching. Although they did not have much themselves, they wanted to help us very much and cared for us as if they were the closest family. Now, when I was leaving Koziatyn, they werecrying for me ... The war in Ukraine began in 2014, when the soldiers from our town also went to fight, and the people needed support and a kind presence even more. Apart from my daily mission, I tried to help as much as I could. I organized rosaries and medals, which I sent for soldiers to the front. They needed it much. Even non-believers, going to war, would come to me for a rosary and a medal with the image of Mary Immaculate. I gave away about 2,500 rosaries. But I did not only distribute rosaries. One friend from Poland gave me bulletproof vests, asking me to give them to the young men from our town who were going to war, because they were often called to the front without any preparation or protection. It was also an important help for them. Young boys sent to the war came to our house, to whom I gave vests, rosaries and medals. Together with the parishioners, we also prayed fervently for them. Since 2014, many people have died in the war, and in fact, there has not been a day when someone did not die there. Due to personnel problems in the Congregation, a decision was made to end our activities in Ukraine. Until the formalities related to the building were completed, I was alone there, continuing my tasks. It was also a very interesting and beautiful experience for me. I had to organize many things myself, but then the people from the town helped me even more. I felt very safe with them and experienced their great goodness even more than before. I didn't think so well about myself as they did about me ... It was a beautiful time together! I left the house before Christmas 2021. The Congregation decided to leave the facility at the disposal of the diocese, subject to pastoral activity there. Now I have constant contact with the parish priest and people from the parish. This is important, especially after the outbreak of the war on February 24. Currently, our house is inhabited by mothers with young children who have escaped from Kiev. They are very grateful because I have left in the house everything they need for a normal life - even food supplies. Now I am preparing for new tasks in the Congregation, but I am with them with my heart and prayer. I have spent twenty years in Ukraine, it is a beautiful time in my life, so I am particularly touched by news from Ukraine, which is fighting for its future, and I understand well the people who are surviving the war and fleeing from it. S.M. Fabian Furca
Prayer of entrustment and the gift of peace with St. John Paul II

Prayer of entrustment and the gift of peace with St. John Paul II

Mar 14, 2022 | SPIRITUALITY

God of our fathers, great and merciful! Lord of life and peace, Father of all people. Today we run to You and invoke Your help through the intercession of Saint Joseph, the Careful Defender of Christ. You yourself chose him so that, as the Bridegroom of the Mother of God, he would become the Head of the Holy Family. For us, too, as Sisters of Mary Immaculate, he is a Support in difficulties, but above all he is the Father and Guardian of our Religious Family. Today we stand before you in this National Shrine, to entrust our Congregation with love in our heart, to entrust you with our future, because time and everything is yours. We entrust to you our fear and doubt about what constitutes our present. Our past is in your hands. Our present is in your hands. And our future is in your hands. Each and every one of us is in your hands. Give us the courage to keep believing that we are in your hands. For your will is peace, not torment. Our fear for the future breeds torment, and it is a terrible feeling, as devastating as war. Saint Joseph, God has made you head of his house and overlord of all his possessions. We invoke you today as the Terror of Hell's Spirits. You are here to help Archangel Michael to save our souls from eternal damnation. We fear a war that brings death and destruction. But this war is born in us and is in us, when we do not cultivate relationships, when we kill ourselves with gossip and slander, when we deviate so far from the commandments and regulations of our religious orders. Plead for us, our Holy Patron, for a peace that begins in our hearts. Let them be full of God, His love and goodness, and then we will survive. God, one and all-powerful, Damn war and overthrow the pride of the violence. You sent your Son, Jesus Christ, to preach peace to those near and far and to unite people of all races and generations into one family.   We invoke Your intercession, Saint Joseph, we also invoke You, Saint Michael the Archangel, and You, Saint Patrons of Poland and our Congregation, and we cry out in the words of Saint John Paul II: Let there be no more war - a bad adventure from which there is no turning back, let there be no more war in us - a maze of struggle and violence. Let the war in Ukraine, which threatens your creatures in the sky, on earth and in the sea, cease.   With Mary, the Mother of Jesus and ours, we implore you to speak to the hearts of people responsible for the fate of nations. Destroy the logic of retaliation and revenge, and give through the Holy Spirit new generous and noble solutions, in dialogue and patient waiting - more fruitful than violent warfare. Father, give our times days of peace. Let there be no more war. Amen.
The beginning of the novena to St. Joseph

The beginning of the novena to St. Joseph

Mar 14, 2022 | NEWS

We are in the novena before the feast of Saint Joseph, who is the Patron of our Congregation, but also the Patron of the difficult times in which we live. How is it, however, with the difficulty that is being talked about so much now? The Holy Family also fled from persecutors, they were refugees. Today so many of our sisters from across the eastern border share their fate, and they do not have the support of husbands or guardians, because they are defending the freedom of the homeland. Mary and Jesus had Joseph, the Guardian. The trouble of escaping does not concern us. Our monasteries are not in ruins. We have plenty of bread and water. Perhaps, in the spirit of solidarity, regardless of age and disease, could we share with those in need the poverty of their everyday life, remaining of bread and water, fasting to overcome this particular demon with fasting and prayer? Let us unite in fasting, which has great power, because it can expose our weaknesses, and then the Lord will come to our aid. We unite in prayer because it is the heart of each of us. Prayer is this need of the heart, but also unity. We are united by the common path on which God the Father set us, but today we are also united by fear for the future. Let us use this fear creatively, let it push us to trust God more, to convert our hearts. Let us restrain the fear of many, abiding by the dying Christ, trusting in the Victory. I accompany the sisters on this path of prayer, I thank those who were with us in Kalisz body and spirit on Wednesday, March 9, and I cordially greet you Sr. M. Magdalena Zabłotna
We are building something good

We are building something good

Mar 10, 2022 | NEWS

Something good… what? Recently, I had the opportunity to do my novice internship at the Center for Women of the PoMoc Association in Katowice, run by Sr. Anna, Sr. Barbara and Sr. Karolina. Amidst the time of prayer together, accompanying the women and their children at the Center, and many creative activities, I have discovered that the house is full of the abbreviation BCD. What does that mean? I started to wonder. Of course, the Sisters rushed to help. We are building something good. Is it just a building erected at the Center? Is it just an action to raise funds for the next stages of construction? No! There is something much more behind this shortcut! BCD is a community that, for the glory of God, wants to build something good. Something? World! This world that is available to each of us, the world we are a part of, because it is the place where God has placed us. The goal is to oppose evil, physical and psychological violence, wounds, and torn relationships. How to do it? You have to start with the basics. That is, from building the right relationships for which we are created, because it is natural that we are simply drawn to another It is in families that good is born, acceptance of man, acceptance of him. Based on lasting intergenerational relations, we can create a society filled with a sense of security and mutual support, and make that the chain of misunderstanding and conflict will be broken. And this is the destiny of the St. Joseph at the PoMoc Association and the priority of the whole community # building good to create healthy relationships in families. And the most interesting thing is that it is already happening! The BCD team does not wait for the "headquarters" in the Center, where the workshops and meetings will be held, to be ready. They meet today - mothers who exchange experiences, fathers who want to experience their parenthood better, and a multitude of volunteers who not only work for the Center, but bring to this community all that they have the most valuable - themselves. Each of us can become part of the #budujemycosdobrego team. Not only with real cooperation in Katowice with my sisters, but where we are - in our families, in our communities, in our workplaces. Because the point is that the good that we can pass on goes with us everywhere.   Sr. Justyna Wijatyk (novice)

News from the Philippines

Feb 12, 2022 | NEWS

In the Philippines, since February, we have the 2nd degree of epidemiological threat, which is already much milder. However, children still do not go to school, there is still distance learning. From February 10, after two years, the borders of the Philippines have also opened for tourists, and although people still suffer from Covid, everything returns to normal in small steps, but not like in Europe. On February 1, we started the monthly "FEEDING PROGRAM" - feeding children in the Payatas district. It is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Manila, only a few minutes from our home. Unfortunately, due to Covid it is not yet possible to keep the normal Feeding program as it was before; that is, the children have joint educational activities, catechesis, games and a meal. Every day, from Monday to Friday, the mothers of these children prepare a warm, wholesome meal for their children, and we supervise the work. At noon, children receive a cup of milk or cocoa, a hot meal and fruit. The mothers of these children learn how to properly nourish their children. There are 50 children enrolled in the feeding program, but in fact many more come, often around 80. We try to ensure that there is enough food for all children, because it is difficult to refuse a hungry child a bowl of rice. We received funds for feeding our children from the parish of the Philippines Fathers in Chioggia, Italy. As soon as we come to Payatas, the children run up to us, greet us and put our hands to their foreheads saying "sister bless" which means "bless me". Through those children we already know, we get to know their families and their problems. We visit them every now and then, and if necessary, we help as far as possible. Sometimes this help is simply giving children intestinal worm medicine or other medications. We also convince parents of the importance of taking care of their health and healing themselves. Some people here are afraid of going to the doctor mainly because of the cost of treatment, which is very high here. Even though almost all of them are Catholic, most people in Payatas do not practice their faith. They don't go to church; they don't take the sacraments. Bearing this in mind, we always try to encourage all families to participate in the Sunday Mass, to pray the rosary in the family and the need for closeness with God in everyday difficult life. We also often help in completing the formalities related to the sacrament of children's baptism. In January, we helped six preschool and school children to be baptized. Many children do not have a birth certificate and therefore do not go to school. The procedures for obtaining a birth certificate are quite complicated, and the parents of these children are often illiterate. We help them with these procedures as much as possible. We make parents aware that education is important and thus children have a chance for a better future. The restrictions related to the pandemic limit us in our actions, but we trust that with God's help this pandemic will end and we ask God for this in our prayers. In closing, I am asking you to pray for us and for our missions here in the Philippines, so that we may develop the work of our Founder here and that we may have many vocations. With heartfelt greetings and prayers for all those who support us spiritually and materially. S.M. Agata Sobczyk