– Select “[24B7UK] Hope Helps Us Endure – Ukrainian Refugees”
You and I have experienced fear, loss, and hope more than once. These sentiments can break the rhythm of our lives. Over time, hope helps us endure until our lives return to normal.
When the war started, those emotions entered the hearts of all Ukrainians and have burrowed so deeply that they may be there forever. The suffering in this country is far from over. As we saw in the news recently, a new front has just opened up!
Near the front lines, entire towns have been wiped off the map. There are cities that resemble Hiroshima after the bomb. The survivors who are now refugees have lost everything. Their homes, their schools, and their churches are all gone.
Father Paschalis Rabcevitsch, OFM in Schargogod remembers a woman of about 60 who came to the monastery wearing a bathrobe and slippers. She had lived near Kiev and had gone across the street in the early morning to check on her neighbor. At that moment, a rocket came and destroyed the home she had lived in for 60 years. Her money, documents, and clothes were gone. All she had left were her life, her bathrobe, her slippers, and the hope that someone would help her.
Fr. Paschalis also remembers a young woman who appeared on the doorstep of the monastery with a baby girl in her arms. The woman asked him to help with diapers and baby food. He looked at the child and asked: “What is wrong with your daughter’s hair?” He could see a streak of gray hair in the child’s dark hair.
The mother told him that they were originally from Kharkiv. When the war started, they did not leave the city immediately because they thought the war would not last long. But the shelling never stopped. Since the child was so small, she could not say she was scared. She could only shudder and cry. The trauma she experienced turned a strand of her hair gray.
He also remembers a 20-year-old man from the local parish who was full of life. When the war began, the young man left for the front to defend his homeland. He came back on leave about 6 months later. He looked and acted as if his soul had been torn out. Physically, he looked as if he had aged 10 years, but his eyes looked like they belonged to an old man.
Our friars help as much as they can, but as you can imagine, the need is so great that they are overwhelmed.
The war has orphaned so many children and left many young widows to raise children by themselves. At this stage of the war, most refugees are still coming from eastern and southern Ukraine, the areas where the war has raged since the beginning. Now refugees are coming from the new front north of Kharkiv. These refugees have not only lost their homes but also their ability to earn a living, and they know constant fear.
There are other fronts to this war that are far from the fighting.
There is a spiritual front. Hope and faith come alive when people gather in churches to pray with one voice for peace: “God, give us peace. God, we cannot cope on our own. Give us peace.”
There is also a humanitarian aid front, far away from Ukraine, where many good people of faith stand on the side of good and light and condemn evil and darkness. These people of God offer their prayers and generosity to the victims of this war.
According to Father Benedykt Świderski, OFM, the Minister Provincial of St. Michael the Archangel Province in Ukraine: “Each friar in our province does something to help. We go to zones and areas of conflict, to the border with Russia, even partially occupied territories, risking our lives to deliver lifesaving food, water, medicine, and other necessary supplies. We also shelter refugees in our parishes and friaries.”
The province has 60 friars in 18 friaries ministering in 54 parishes throughout Ukraine. Our friars help people in various ways. One friary set up a bakery for the needy. Some friaries have built bomb shelters under friaries and churches. Other friaries have prepared first aid centers and aid distribution points for refugees. Friars have also set up after-school centers for children.
Our Franciscan missionary friars in Ukraine have brought and distributed thousands of tons of humanitarian aid from Europe (food, hygiene products, clothes, shoes, medicines, blankets) to distribution centers. In addition, the friars have taken aid items to people in destroyed and temporarily occupied areas, traveling thousands of kilometers on rough, dangerous roads.
Fr. Benedykt, Fr. Paschalis, and all our missionary friars in Ukraine need our help! It is my hope and prayer that you will support Franciscan missionaries there as they stay and bravely continue to serve the refugees and the Church in this war zone. Will you stand with them in their time of need?
Your generous gift today will help our Ukrainian friars purchase, food, bottled water, medicine, and other emergency supplies for children and families.
Your prayers and support will keep the hope of faith alive in the hearts of innocent people who are experiencing the horror and the tragedy of war. Please help our Franciscan missionaries respond to their cries for help!
We Franciscan friars always remember you in our prayers with infinite gratitude. God bless you!
– Select “[24B7UK] Hope Helps Us Endure – Ukrainian Refugees”
Gratefully yours in hope and faith,
Brother Andrew Brophy, OFM
Executive Director
P.S. Please send a generous gift today to help our Franciscan missionaries provide lifesaving water, food, medicine, and other supplies to innocent people who are trying to survive the tragic war in Ukraine.
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