SAINTS FOR THE YEAR

 

Sometimes even Catholics ask, why pray to the saints? Unfortunately, in our Church today so few saints are known, especially the ones who have lived in our lifetime. RCIA programs, unlike in my day when we had catechism daily, one or two hours a week gives little time for anything but doctrine. As Joe Friday would say: just the facts, ma’am.

And when we pray why not just go to the source of our prayers?  Why this need for intercessors?

 

Because the saints help us develop a deeper relationship with Jesus and life as we know it today is hard. The saints are examples of those who lived the Christian life well. They had their struggles and faults like we all do, but they continually said yes to God, allowing His love to transform them. One of the beauties of knowing about the modern saints is, due to modern technology & communication, we know more about their lives (through the written word and photography) then saints of past centuries. 

I personally feel I can’t have enough heavenly friends who can intercede for me. So I am stacking them up, one by one, getting to know them, confident that they are cheering me on in my own journey with the Lord.

This year for our patron saint of the year, we considered only saints who somehow related to the Ukraine or the Holy Land. We drew for the Community St.. Mariam Baouardy and drew for our Abbey St. Marie Alphonsine Ghattas, both Palestinian saints of modern times, who were canonized together in May 2015. (I am sure I did a Blog on the former, but at present have no access to my files- due to a new computer glitz).

ST. MARIE-ALPHONSINE founded the Dominican Sisters of the Holy Rosary of Jerusalem, and ST. MARIAM (Mary of Jesus Crucified) was a Discalced Carmelite and mystic. They are the modern first saints to hail from the territory that made up historic Palestine. 

For my saint I drew the Ukrainian martyr, BL. LAURENTIA HARASYMIV, who was born on 31 September 1911 in the village of Rudnyky, Lviv District. In 1931 she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph, and in 1933 she made her first vows.

In 1951, she was arrested by the agents of the NKVD along with Sister Olympia and sent to Borislav.  She was then exiled to Tomsk, Siberia, being sick with tuberculosis when she arrived at her designated place of exile. Only one family would agree to give her a roof over her head, in a room where a paralyzed man lay behind a partition. 

In spite of her own state she was made to do heavy manual labor, all the while  enduring sub-human conditions and praying. .She finally died on 28 August 1952 in the village of Kharsk in the Tomsk Region of Siberia.  Her feast is December 28. (Photo to left is Bl. Laurentia)

BL. OLYMPIA OLHA BIDA was born in 1903 in the village of Tsebliv, Lviv District. At a young age she entered the congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph. In 1938 she was assigned to the town of Khyriv where she became superior of the house. After the establishment of the Soviet regime, she and the other sisters suffered a number of attacks on the convent. She, nevertheless, continued to care for children, to catechize and organize underground religious services, often without a priest.

 In 1950 she was arrested by soldiers of the NKVD and taken to a hard labor camp in Boryslav. Eventually she was sentenced to lifelong exile along with Bl. Larentia in the Tomsk region of Siberia for “anti-Soviet activities.” Even in exile, Sister Olympia tried to perform her duties as superior. She provided support for her fellow sisters. She patiently endured inhuman living conditions. She died a martyr’s death on January 23, 1952.

“God Almighty, God’s Providence will not allow His little children to perish in a foreign land. For He is with us here, in the midst of these forests and waters. He doesn’t forget about us Because of our faith, because of a divine matter, we suffer, and what could be better than this? Let’s follow Him bravely. Not only when all is well, but even when times are bitter, let us say: Glory to God in all matters.” – From Sister Olympia’s letter to her provincial superior, Sister Neonylia.

May these two holy women intercede for all Ukrainian women and children who have been displaced from their homeland due to the on-going war, and may their people know an everlasting peace!