HOLY FAMILY IN EXILE

 

Irenaeus Yurchuk’s Nativity is a response to Russia’s 2022 military invasion of Ukraine. We do not seen the traditional, peacefilled birth of our savior, but rather a war-zone Nativity. It shows the Holy Family, rendered in iconic style, sheltering at night in the rubble of a bombed-out apartment complex. Surrounded by fallen steel beams, concrete, and broken glass, the Virgin Mother Mary holds the newborn Jesus while a downcast Joseph sits beside them with head in hands. Though their circumstances are dire, through the building’s shell shines one particularly bright star, signifying hope in the horror.

CHRISTMAS LEGEND

Christmas Eve and we, the poor,
All night long will be sitting here
And the room is cold that we house in
And the wind that blows outside blows in.
Come, dear Lord Jesus, enter too
For truly we have need of you.

We sit around this holy night
Like heathen who never saw the light.
The snow falls cold on these bones of ours.
The snow cannot bear to be out of doors:
Snow, come indoors with us, for sure
They’ll not house you in heaven either.

We’ll brew up a toddy and then we’ll feel
Warmer and easy, body and soul.
We’ll brew a hot toddy. Round our thin walls
Blindly some brute beast fumbles.
Quick, beast, come in with us – your kind too
This night has nowhere warm to go.

We’ll feed our coats to the fire and so
We’ll all be warmer than we are now.
Oh the joists will glow and we shan’t freeze
Not till the hour before sunrise.
Come in, dear wind, dear guest, welcome:
Like us, you have no house and home.

Bertolt Brecht ~ 1923    Translated from German by Tom Kuhn & David Constantine

Born in Ukraine and raised in Upstate New York, Irenaeus Yurchuk moved to New York City to earn an Architecture degree from The Cooper Union and graduate degrees in Urban Design and Planning from Columbia University. He has participated in group exhibitions in North America and Europe, and his works are held in private collections in the US and abroad.

“I have a special interest in characterizing buildings, which reflects my background in architecture and urban design,” he says. “Works in the show include reexamined images of distinctive edifices, abstractions of topographic components, and some observations of the natural environment in the Narrowsburg area, where I have spent more than 40 summers.”

 

HOLY FAMILY

 

House of Christmas   - G. K. Chesterton

There fared a mother driven forth

Out of an inn to roam;

In the place where she was homeless

All men are at home.

The crazy stable close at hand,

With shaking timber and shifting sand,

Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand

Than the square stones of Rome.

For men are homesick in their homes,

And strangers under the sun,

And they lay their heads in a foreign land

Whenever the day is done.

Here we have battle and blazing eyes,

And chance and honor and high surprise,

But our homes are under miraculous skies

Where the yule tale was begun.

A Child in a foul stable,

Where the beasts feed and foam,

Only where He was homeless

Are you and I at home;

We have hands that fashion and heads that know,

But our hearts we lost – how long ago!

In a place no chart nor ship can show

Under the sky’s dome.

This world is wild as an old wives’ tale,

And strange the plain things are,

The earth is enough and the air is enough

For our wonder and our war;

But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings

And our peace is put in impossible things

Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings

Round an incredible star.

To an open house in the evening

Home shall men come,

To an older place than Eden

And a taller town than Rome.

To the end of the way of the wandering star,

To the things that cannot be and that are,

To the place where God was homeless

And all men are at home.

This Holy Family by Andriy Vynnychok  is unique in the placement of the two animals. I love how St. Joseph appears to be holding the lamb, as if to predict the future of his Child, the sacrificial Lamb of God.

Andriy was born  in 1967 in Chervonograd, in western Ukraine. In 1986 he graduated Lviv State College of Decorative and Applied. In 1996 he graduated from Lviv National Academy of Arts. He works in monumental and panel painting as well as in Christian iconography. He participated in exhibitions and En plein air activities in Ukraine and abroad. 

WAR AND PEACE- A SAVIOR IS BORN

 

 

WARTIME CHRISTMAS

Led by a star, a golden star,
The youngest star, an olden star,
Here the kings and the shepherds are,
A kneeling on the ground.
What did they come to the inn to see?
God in the Highest, and this is He,
A baby asleep on His mother’s knee
And with her kisses crowned.  

Now is the earth a dreary place,
A troubled place, a weary place.
Peace has hidden her lovely face
And turned in tears away.
Yet the sun, through the war-cloud, sees
Babies asleep on their mother’s knees.
While there are love and home—and these—
There shall be Christmas Day.    ~ Joyce Kilmer (d.1918)

In a 2024 Nativity scene, by the Ukrainian artist Natalya  Rusetska,  the manger in Bethlehem has become the planet earth, in which the struggle between good and evil is depicted as war between heaven and earth, with the birth of the Savior in the middle.

She says of her work: My art is about the eternal, the timeless, the extraterrestrial, the hidden. One of the inherent features of sacred art is symbolism. This is a figurative creation that reveals the inner essence of the depicted. Sacred art affects and changes the spiritual state of the human.

Born in 1984 she studied at the Lviv National Academy of Arts (department of sacred art). Lives and works in Lviv. Engaged in modern sacred art.Since 2019, she has been working at the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv. Her works are in private collections in Ukraine, Poland, Italy, Canada, and USA.  

CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS

 

We have not done much these past weeks in Advent, with the art of Ukraine, and as the war there rages on and on, with the people living through another war, we present some new art (at least for me) during this Holy Season of the Child’s birth. Most of us, in our country have food and shelter, heat and water, and so celebrate in comfort.  We must not forget those who have none of these necessities for survival.

 An unusual, but very lovely scene by Uliana Krekhovets titled “Nativity Scene”, shows the Virgin Mary extending her cloak to dampen the flames in a besieged city, while the swaddled Baby Jesus lies safe on the far shore of a body of water. The flowing river serves as a symbolic boundary between war and peace, life and death, the past and the future. In place of the shepherds and wise men, and overcrowded boat of Ukrainian refugees draws near the Child with eyes  fixed on Him, hoping against hope, that He comes to bring them peace. 

The poem by Madeleine L' Engle completes the meditation for this wonderous day.

The Risk of Birth, Christmas, 1973

This is no time for a child to be born,
With the earth betrayed by war & hate
And a comet slashing the sky to warn
That time runs out & the sun burns late.

That was no time for a child to be born,
In a land in the crushing grip of Rome;
Honor & truth were trampled by scorn —
Yet here did the Savior make his home.

When is the time for love to be born?
The inn is full on the planet earth,
And by a comet the sky is torn —
Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.  

4TH SUNDAY ADVENT- THE LORD IS NEAR

 

 

  

 The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him.” Habakkuk 2:20

 

We are in the last days of Advent, which means Christmas is close, and hence the demand on our time can cause a frenetic toll on our well-being: physically, emotionally and spiritually.

 In these last days it is important to carve out time and space to go into a silence with the Lord, even if only for short periods. By doing this, we can discover a deepening loving communion with our God, as he fills us with the graces given during these very holy days. Days which should continue even after the tree and decorations have been put away.  Remember the carol- "The Twelve days of Christmas"? These days are after the feast, not before.

 May our resting in the silence this Advent as we joyfully anticipate the coming of the Child at Christmas, find us rejoicing each day,  in the loving, merciful gift of the Father, in His only Son.

Painting: Elizabeth Wang

3rd SUN ADVENT- REJOICE

 

  

St. Mother Teresa of Cacutta viewed silence as essential for prayer, spiritual growth, and finding God. She believed that silence is where one can hear God's voice, and this leads to a chain reaction: the fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, and the fruit of service is peace. This "silence" involved not just the absence of noise, but also a mental and emotional stillness—the silence of the mind, eyes, ears, and heart—to be truly present and open to God's will. 

The first reading for this Sunday, again from Isaiah (35:1-2): The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song... they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.

These few lines set the tone for the day, giving us a very descriptive picture of place- a place that many have never seen, but for those of us who live in the west, the desert is a very mysterious and almost sacred place. To the natives who have lived on this land for hundreds of years it is sacred. 

Upon reflection, I don't think I ever visited the desert, that I was not aware of the silence that inhabitated the greatness, yet the vast emptiness of space.  Through most if the year it is a colorless place, but come spring it is glorious beyond measure. 

In the heart of the vast desert lies a profound stillness, a silence so powerful it speaks volumes without uttering a single word. One must listen to the "silent sounds", which permeate the place.

The Church gives us this reading to remind us that we are in a sort of desert, not only in Advent as we await the coming of the Christ Child, but our life is a desert as we travel to the heavenly homeland. In the midst of that waiting, we at times are given a glimpse of the glory to come. What is it about the desert that makes it a good meeting place for the Lord? It is in that stillness,  that we hear the voice of the Lord who waits for us.

...all men need enough silence and solitude in their lives to enable the deep inner voice of their own true self to be heard at least occasionally. When that inner voice is not heard, when man cannot attain to the spiritual peace that comes from being perfectly at one with his true self, his life is always miserable and exhausting. For he cannot go on happily for long unless he is in contact with the springs of spiritual life which are hidden in the depths of his own soul. If man is constantly exiled from his own home, locked out of his own spiritual solitude, he ceases to be a true person. He no longer lives as a man.  (Thomas Merton, The Silent Life)

Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing. (Isaiah 35: 4-5)

Paintings:  Rick Jaramillo

SILENCE in the 2nd WEEK of ADVENT

 

 Biblical revelation and the lives of the Saints all make clear that God speaks to us the best in silence.  We need it, far more than we admit these days and Advent is a great season to make some time for it. When I read the lives of the saints, be they from ages past, or more modern ones, I am always amazed at how much they treasured silence- time alone with the Lord. Some were contemplative, living in a religious comunity, or even alone, but many had active works such as teaching or care of the sick and poor.  And many have been lay people. No matter the life, they found the time for quiet prayer.  They understood that silence is the basis for contemplative stillness, emptiness of the mind, freedom from the distracted mind, which leads us deeper into life with Jesus.

" Noise is a deceptive, addictive, and false tranquilizer. The tragedy of our world is never better summed up than in the fury of senseless noise that stubbornly hates silence. This age detests the things that silence brings us to: encounter, wonder, and kneeling before God." (Cardinal Sarah: The Power of Silence)

Living on a small island away from the hustle and chaos of the world, there is more opportunity to find times for silence, and since our community is a small one, we have more space to be alone, and more times for silence, especially in this time of Advent. In spite of the rains and damp chill, it is my favorite time in the monastery. My prayer is that all may find a small time, each day to prepare in silence for the coming of the Lord.

Icon:  “Our Lady of Silence” in the Vatican painted at the Benedictine Convent of San Giulio d’Orta in the Italian province of Novara. 

NEW ICON FOR SEATTLE

 

Our  Cathedral in Seattle has a new icon, written by an artist in New York. It portrays ST. KATERI TEKAKWITHA. It started when Corinna Laughlin, the director of liturgy for St. James Cathedral in Seattle, saw a series of 12 icons hung along a wall, including one of St. Kateri Tekakwitha.

The artist, Patricia Brintle, was originally from Saint-Michel-de-l'Attalaye, Haiti, but in 1964 moved to New York to marry her fiancé, who had moved there for work.

 Patricia began drawing and painting as a young child, developing a distinct style using bold colors. Some of her artwork has been shown at the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence, Italy, and she’s been commissioned to create a portrait of Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman for the Passionist Monastery in Queens, New York.

The 4-foot-tall icon represents the local connection along with St. Kateri’s New York roots. The nature behind St. Kateri, particularly the pine trees, represents the local environment. She’s adorned in a traditional Salish cedar hat, and a Mohawk skirt, leggings and moccasins. At her feet, among a group of lilies, sits a turtle. As part of the Turtle Clan of the Mohawk people, St. Kateri was known as the “Lily of the Mohawks.The icon also contains a canoe, two eagles and two salmon, a nod to both the Pacific Northwest and Native American communities.

The icon  traveled to local Native American Catholic communities after its blessing on Oct. 19, before being placed in its permanent home in the cathedral. “For Native Catholics to be able to recognize themselves in the iconography of the cathedral is important, but also the sense that she’s not a saint just for Native Catholics. She’s for everyone. She’s the patron of ecology — that’s so important to people in the Pacific Northwest, said the artist.

Why is this saint so important to our archdiocese?  The last miracle which put through her canonization happened in the children’s hospital just a few miles from the cathedral. (Blog Oct. 20, 2012) with the cure of Jake Finkbinner, a Lummi child suffering from strep A bacteria which started on his face after he received a cut on his lip during a basketball game. When the doctors gave up hope, telling the parents to prepare themselves, Sister Kateri Mitchell, executive director of the Tekakwitha Conference, placed a relic of Blessed Kateri on his leg.

The next morning, doctors were stunned to see that the flesh-eating bacteria had stopped. Five years later, St. Kateri was canonized on Oct. 21, 2012, with Jake and his family and many of his Lummi tribe, as well as Oblates from our monastery attending the ceremony in Rome.  Jake carried the gifts at the canonization Mass.

The artist studies each saint before her painting begins and in this case flew to Washington, visiting the cathedral as well as St. Paul Parish in La Conner on the Swinomish Reservation, which is the closest to us on the mainland.

“That was quite an experience,” Patricia said. “That was amazing. I can’t even put it into words. I was now walking on ground that the ancestors of the people who lived on the reservation over 10,000 years ago were walking. That touched me, that touched me a lot.”

“That was quite an experience,” she said. “That was amazing. I can’t even put it into words. I was now walking on ground that the ancestors of the people who lived on the reservation over 10,000 years ago were walking. That touched me, that touched me a lot.”  Her prayer is that the icon touches the many people who visit and pray in the Seattle cathedral. 

SILENCE IN ADVENT

 

Advent is a season for hoping, waiting, and silence. It is no coincidence that it falls in winter, which in many parts of the world can be harsh. It is the time when nature digs in and is silent in growth. When I was at our Abbey in Connecticut, I found the winters difficult, not so much for the cold, as for the lack of green.  Here in the Pacific Northwest  we have green all year, even though our winters can be quite wet.

This Advent in anticipation of the coming of our Lord, we shall focus on SILENCE. While the world seemingly spins out of control, Advent invites us to slow down and listen for the still small voice of God. It calls us to be still. 

Even before Thanksgiving this year, Christmas decor was on the market.  The push for Christmas celebration seems to get earlier and earlier by the year. Which perhaps says something of a culture which seeks more than it understands or knows for a desire for the spiritual. 

Many Catholics don’t realize the Christmas season does not start until Christmas Eve Masses. Most do not know that Christmas Day lasts 8 days (an octave). Or that the Christmas season lasts until the Baptism of the Lord, and for some, until the Presentation of the Lord, February 2. 

This season of waiting in silent expectation through prayer is essential for being spiritually prepared to fully live the joy of Christ's coming into our hearts, into our world. The answer to being overwhelmed and exhausted from the materialistic overload is the one Advent offers to us. It is to choose silence. This is how we prepare our souls for Christmas. We must seek silence with our whole heartsfor it is in silence that we encounter the Living God.

As the Church, through the Liturgy, invites us into the silence of waiting, may we be aware of the precious, holy moments presented to us.

Elijah found God not in the strong winds, nor earthquakes, nor fire, but in the silence (1 Kings 19:11-12).

(Painting Jyoti Sahi- India)

POTATOES, TULIPS, BERRIES, AND BIRDS

 

 

 

This is the time of the year when farmers on the mainland in the rich Skagit Valley, donate hundreds of pounds of potatoes to us for the winter.  We have been known still be enjoying them on the 4^th of July, which amazes our friends. We also receive beets and brussell  sprouts, which are still on their long stocks.

 "Skagit" can refer to the Skagit Native American tribe, a dialect of the Lushootseed language, or a geographic location like the Skagit River and Skagit County in Washington. In the Lushootseed language, the word originally meant "to hide away" or "place of refuge" and was applied to the people who lived in the area, specifically the Lower Skagit people on Whidbey Island, south of us. 

 This ultra-fertile valley is nestled under the Cascade mountain range, with farmers producing about $300 million worth of crops, livestock and dairy products on approximately 90,000 acres of land. 

The Skagit River valley is blessed with some of the most productive agricultural soil in the world. The valley's fertile soil has been rated in the top 2% of soils in the world, making the Skagit Valley one of the most important and productive agricultural regions in the world. 

Thousands of years of flooding on the Skagit River deposited a rich layer of topsoil in the Skagit Valley. European immigrants flocked here starting in the 1860s and built houses in the flats, along with an elaborate network of earthen dikes to capture land from the saltwater delta and prevent the rivers from flooding the land. 

Over 90 different crops are grown in the county. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, tulips, daffodils, pickling cucumbers, specialty potatoes, Jonagold apples and vegetable seed are some of the more important crops in this maritime valley. This summer one farmer brought us 30 flats of berries - to be frozen for winter- after we ate to satiety!

More tulip, iris and daffodil bulbs are produced here than in any other county in the U.S. And our friend at Roozengarden is the largest.  At Easter and Christmas (and special times in between) our chapel if filled with his flowers.

Ninety-five percent of the red potatoes grown in the state of Washington are from Skagit County.

In addition to food and fiber products, agriculture in this region provides habitat for thousands of swans, snow geese and dabbling ducks.  I remember the first time I saw the snow geese in a field. It was January and as we drove by I swore it had snowed. As we got closer and closer to the site I could see the wings flapping.  A magical sight, and people come from all over the world to see this wonderous bird, along with swans which feed amidst the geese.The Skagit Delta supports 70 percent of Puget Sound’s shorebirds during migration, the farmland being the reason why the Skagit Delta is one of the most important waterfowl wintering areas in the Pacific Northwest, supporting over 90 percent of the waterfowl wintering in western Washington.

The ongoing presence and preservation of farmland in the Skagit Valley supports one of the nation’s last strongholds containing all five species of salmon. The largest chum and pink salmon populations in the entire lower 48, as well as the most abundant population of wild Chinook salmon in Puget Sound are found in these rivers.

We are blessed to live in an area so rich in produce and to have so many farmer friends willing to share their crops with us.

Photos:

Top: Jacob R. King

Tulips: Ruth Choi

Bottom Geese:  Rahan Alduaij

CHICLAYO AGAIN

 

 

A statue of Pope Leo XIV has been unveiled in CHICLAYO, his former episcopal city in Peru. 

As part of the celebrations on Thursday, Chiclayo's  bishop Edinson Farfán celebrated Mass and blessed the sculpture. He asked Pope Leo XIV to "always protect us with his blessing and to always accompany us".

The statue, which is around  16 feet high, is made of white fiberglass and resin and weighs around half a ton. It was designed by Peruvian artist Juan Carlos Ñañake. It stands at a roundabout at the southern entrance to the city of Chiclayo, which the local authorities plan to rename the "Papal Oval". 

It is part of a new tourist route called "Ways of Pope Leo XIV", which will include 38 places of interest in four provinces where the Holy Father left his mark during his time in Peru from, 1985 to 2023.

On the occasion of its unveiling, the governor of the Lambayeque region, Jorge Pérez Flores, emphasized that Pope Leo XIV "is a Peruvian who has walked with us and is certainly always with us with his prayers for the well-being of the Peruvian people". 

Pope Leo had addressed the faithful of the Chiclayo diocese in the main loggia of St Peter's Basilica during the first speech after his election as Pope on 8 May, assuring them of his closeness.

A SLOWER LIFE

 

I have been remiss in keeping up with Blogs.  It has been a very busy summer, especially in the garden. Our now small garden with 12 metal container beds (looking like something from Star Trek) have produced an abundance of veggies and flowers. At its peak the garden looked like a jungle. For the first time in many years I made gallons of tomato sauce for the freezer. Now that life has slowed and the weather turned cold, I promise more saints or saints to be- there are over two dozen waiting! Photo below shows Mother Dilecta, gardener, sacristan, poet, and avid sports fan, especially of the Mariners!

THE FEAST OF HEAVENLY FRIENDS

 

Today we celebrate the feast of ALL SAINTS.  Since this Blog is dedicated to saints, we especially remember our modern heavenly friends who we know are rooting for us in our own journey towards the Father.

Pope Benedict XIV said:
“To canonize a servant of God, it will suffice to have enough evidence that he practiced the virtues he had the chance to practice in a sublime and heroic way according to his circumstances and his station.”

Consequently, as Henri Joly says,
“the Church has numbered in the rank of saints not only monks, along with princes and princesses, kings and queens, emperors and empresses, but also merchants, teachers, greengrocers, farmers, shepherds, lawyers and doctors, bankers and clerks, beggars and servants, craftsmen, shoemakers, carpenters and blacksmiths.”

The rather widespread notion that the saints were not like us is simply false. They also were subject to temptation, also fell and got up again, felt oppressed by sadness, weakened, and paralyzed by discouragement.

However, mindful of the words of the Savior: Apart from me you can do nothing
(Jn 15:5), and those of Saint Paul: I have strength for everything in him who strengthens me (Phil 4:13), they did not rely on themselves, but, putting all their trust in God, after every fall, they humbled themselves; they sincerely repented, cleansed their soul in the sacrament of penance, and then set down to work with even greater fervor.

In this way, their falls served them as steps toward an ever greater perfection and they became lighter and lighter. When Saint Scholastica asked her brother Saint Benedict what was needed to achieve holiness, she received this reply: “You must want to."      St. Maximilian Kolbe

                                                                    

JEREMY IN PERU

Recently, I had an email from my Irish friend JEREMY FLANAGAN, who has lived in Northern Peru for over 25 years, devoting his life to conservation, not only of the land, but of the birds.  (See Blog 5/21/2013)  While his struggle goes on to make known the importance of conservation, it is better today than when I was with him twelve years ago.

He has seen the importance of educating young children, helping them to be excited about their country and nature, but also having a hand in its protection. Jeremy’s wife, Cristina, is now a big part of his work.

One of his missions is to protect the plantcutter and its Peruvian habitat. Plantcutters are finicky about their diet and  are among only a handful of birds known to eat leaves. Along with finches, they form part of an even smaller group of birds that can move their serrated beaks from side to side, not just up and down. I spent over two hours in a hot, dry forest with Jeremy trying to locate this bird- one of the rarest in the world. Our patience paid of!  

Jeremy has written a book for children on this amazing bird and the biodiversity of Northern Peru's dry forests.  He and Cristina are even planting more native trees in order to save the birds who feed on their seeds.

It is estimated that only 500-1000 Peruvian Plantcutters (a Peruvian endemic) are left alive in the wild, with several other species of native flora and fauna of the Dry Forest threatened in various degrees.

The pkantcutter is a symbolic bird and a biological indicator of the health of the local Dry Forest. 

 Their habitat is in a narrow altitudinal range (from sea level to 550m) and highly fragmented, from patches of vegetation that follow important geographical features such as "quebradas" (dry riverbeds or gullies/wadis). The last remaining sites keep being reduced by man's destruction.

A PEOPLE OF RESILIENCE

 

War or any major disaster is like a long-term illness.  At first people rally around to help, offering support of any kind, but as the illness shows no sign of abating, people begin to drift away, leaving the patient alone, often to fend for themselves.

We certainly see this in the third year of the war between Ukraine and Russia. Ukrainian morale, both civilian and military, has significantly declined due to the prolonged nature of the war, military setbacks, and a sense of exhaustion.

Factors contributing to this include a shortage of troops, insufficient rest for soldiers, uncertainty about Western aid, and a perceived lack of progress on the battlefield, which has led to an increased desire for a negotiated peace and a weakening of the will to fight among some.  

Estimates for Ukraine war casualties in 2025 vary, but recent figures suggest Russia has incurred over 790,000 killed or injured, while Ukraine has suffered 400,000 killed or injured. Russia also has approximately 50,000 missing personnel, and Ukraine has around 35,000 missing. These are estimates based on a variety of sources, including leaked documents and intelligence assessments from 2025. 

 As of September 2025, Russia’s war in Ukraine has dragged on for three and a half years. Despite nine months of efforts by the United States to end the fighting, there remains no end in sight. Yet despite all this diplomacy, multiple meetings, and countless statements, Russia continues to pummel Ukraine’s cities and engage in a brutal, months-long ground offensive.

Despite the low morale, the Ukrainian people's resilience remains a protective factor, according to a study by the National Institutes of Health and many soldiers express a strong commitment to fighting for their country despite their personal exhaustion.

On a brighter note, I try to find art or music that relates to the Ukrainian people which is rich but not well known to the Western world. One composer, well known in his native country, is Mykola Lysenko. I just came across his  Rhapsody on Ukrainian Themes No.2- also known as “Dumka Shumka’ played by the British pianist Margaret Fingerhut in her album Ukraine, A Piano Tribute. In it I heard for the first time the haunting work of Viktor Kosenko, Nocturne-Fantasy. He was regarded by his contemporaries as a master of lyricism, but unfortunately died at theage of 41 of kindney cancer.

Margaret having a Ukrainian Jewish grandfather, in 2022 collaborated with Viktoriia Levchenko, a young Ukrainian filmmaker, to make a video in support of Ukraine. Set to her performance of Les Rochers d’Outche-Coche by the Ukrainian composer Sergei Bortkiewicz, the video raised money for emergency vehicles in Ukraine.

I always enjoy finding music of other cultures which are new to me, though revered in their native lands.

Our prayers are on-going for the courageous Ukrainian people who continue to show the world they will not be beaten down. They will not be forgotten and will always live on through their art and music.

NEW SAINT- OLD FRIEND

 

Yesterday, Pope Leo canonized seven new saints, one being my “friend”  MADRE MARIA TRONCATTI, a Salesian Sister, who trained and worked as a Red Cross nurse in military hospitals in the First World War, and was a missionary in Ecuador for almost 50 years. (See Blogs Nov. 23,2012, Jan.2, 2013 & June 9, 2025)

She was part of an initially tiny group of Sisters engaged in evangelization and care for the Shuar people of the Amazon forest, looking after their physical needs as nurse, surgeon and dentist, and their spiritual needs as catechist, envangelizer and role-model. The work she began in an isolated and dangerous environment continues today. The new saint was killed in a tragic plane crash on 25th August 1969 at the age of 86, still doing her mission work.

She was much loved by the people who called her "Mamacita".

 The Holy Father said in his homily: “Today we have before us seven witnesses, the new Saints, who, with God’s grace, kept the lamp of faith burning. Indeed, they themselves became lamps capable of spreading the light of Christ.”

 “We see all this in the lives of the new Saints: they are not heroes or champions of some ideal, but authentic men and women ... May their intercession assist us in our trials and their example inspire us in our shared vocation to holiness. As we journey towards this goal, let us pray without ceasing, and continue in what we have learned and firmly believe (cf. 2 Tim 3:14). Faith on earth thus sustains the hope for heaven."

"Let us entrust to the intercession of the Virgin Mary and the new Saints our constant prayer for peace in the Holy Land, Ukraine and other places affected by war. May God grant all their leaders the wisdom and perseverance to advance in the search for a just and lasting peace.”

Of St. Maria, the Apostolic Vicar of Méndez (Ecuador), Néstor Vidal  Bishop Montesdeoca affirmed that the holiness of the nun and missionary "was not demonstrated by spending all day praying, but by the fact that she knew how to reconcile, in her life and work, prayer, the Eucharist, and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary with pastoral, missionary, and catechetical work to proclaim the Gospel, but also with the educational work of educating boys and girls to be good Christians and honest citizens, especially those from the mission territory, especially among the Shuar, both in Macas and later in Seville Don Bosco and then in Sucúa."

He also emphasized the relevance of St. Maria's passionate missionary work, a promoter of human rights "at a time when it was not yet widely discussed" and advocated for women's rights, but above all, was "a promoter and prophet of the peaceful social integration of peoples." 

Regarding the new Salesian saint who dedicated her life to serving the Indigenous peoples of Ecuador, Pope Leo noted that “she cared for the bodies and hearts of those she assisted with the love and strength she drew from faith and prayer.”

“Her truly tireless work is an example for us of a charity that does not give up in the face of difficulties but rather transforms them into opportunities for free and total self-giving.”

Her feast is now August 25.

MODERN MYSTIC

 

ALICJA  LENCZEWSKA a Polish mystic and teacher was the author of two spiritual diaries published under the title Testimony. Spiritual Diary and Word of Instruction, in which she describes mainly her conversations with Jesus Christ, as well as the Mother of God, angels and saints, including St. Faustina.

She was born in 1934 in Warsaw.  Her parents came from Eastern Lesser Poland (now Ukraine). Her father, August, was a typing teacher and inventor of a specific type of padlock, and her mother, Jadwiga, was a teacher. Her father died when she was two.

In 1940, she moved with her mother and older brother, Sławomir, to the Rzeszów region, then to Inowrocław, and finally, in 1946, the family settled in Szczecin. Here she passed her high school exams and then took a job as a village teacher. She taught handicrafts and mechanics, and eventually became vice-principal of a high school for preschool teachers.

She traveled extensively, enjoyed tourism, and was interested in art history . She became interested in religious issues after reading American books about the charismatic renewal .

Before Alicja’s conversion, her faith was very superficial. As she mentioned, “There were several years when I lived outside the Church, almost completely in clear contradiction to the commandments of God.”  

She persistently pursued the meaning of life, goodness, and beauty. “The longing for these pursued me through many countries for many years. But the time finally came when I increasingly felt the emptiness of such a life.” 

She experienced her first mystical encounters with Jesus during a retreat in Gostyń in 1985. Her spiritual guide was Father Walter Rachwalik, who advised her to systematically record her visions, which she did in her school notebooks from 1985 to 2010. As she later confessed, “Something happened there that completely changed my life.” 

She eventually typed up the notes, destroying the originals (only three notebooks survive). In 1987, she retired from work, though she continued to work as a volunteer in the parish office. She stated that in 1989 she began experiencing the pain of invisible stigmata.

She admitted, “Everything ceased to exist, there was only Him. His power, might, and immense presence grew larger as I became smaller beside Him. Everything I had longed for and chased after in the world for so many years, He gave to me.”

She began to read the Holy Scriptures regularly, pray the rosary and the breviary, and fast on Wednesdays and Fridays on bread and water.  She organized and led pilgrimages to Italy, the Holy Land, and Medjugorje.

She made her perpetual vows in the Family of the Heart of Crucified Love. She went on pilgrimages and co-initiated the founding of the community of the Apostles of Pure Love. In 2010, she was diagnosed with kidney cancer.

She is the author of two spiritual journals. The first, Testimony. A Spiritual Journal, contains her notes from 1985 to 1989. The second journal, Word of Instruction, dates from 1989 to 2010.

On June 24, 2009, in some of the last words written in Word of Instruction , she shared her understanding of love for Jesus Christ.

In 2010 her mystical communications ceased and Alicja fell seriously ill. She accepted her illness as a “gift from God” and maintained a cheerful disposition until the end, as those who accompanied her attested.

 Alicja spent the last days of her earthly life in St. John`s hospice. This was her choice, as she did not want to burden her brother Sławomir and sister-in-law Dorota with her care. There she was also able to participate in the Eucharist daily. 

 A day before she was admitted, she broke her leg. The femur was so damaged by cancer that it broke into two parts. The incident occurred at 6 a.m., but she did not inform her sister-in-law by phone until 8 a.m. Then, her sister-in-law Dorota called an ambulance, which took her to the hospital. It is likely that she did not want to wake up the family and offered the associated suffering for some intention.

After her death in 2012, the local Archbishop of Szczecin-Kamień, Andrzej Dzięga,
appointed a theological commission to examine whether the content of her spiritual notes was consistent with the teaching of the Church. The theologians' opinion was unequivocally positive. Rev. Dr. Mieczysław Piotrowski, co-author of her biography stated that "these texts are among the pearls of religious literature". 

Both publications received the imprimatur of the Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Szczecin-Kamień, Henryk Wejman. "Today the widespread interest in Alicja Lenczewska’s texts indicates that this is already a great work, and I think it will become even greater. Speaking quite privately, I deeply believe that Alicja will be beatified one day,” admitted Fr. Mariusz Sokołowski, SChr.

“…Alicja, as a layperson, despite her earlier imperfections and later personal conversion, was able to serve God’s cause devotedly and plead for the atonement for sinners through her prayers and suffering. She thus became an apostle of Divine Mercy,” Bishop Henryk Wejman, of the University of Szczecin, stated in “The Concept of Lay Spirituality: An Analytical Study of the Writings of Alicja Lenczewska.”