+ KEEP VIGIL

This is our second Advent in Kamchatka. Time is flying! In today’s Gospel Jesus alerts us to be vigilant. In these days the words “being vigilant” slowly disappear from our daily vocabulary. We are always in such a hurry. At the end of the day we are so tired that we dream only of having some time just for ourselves. And yet God’s Word calls us to: KEEP VIGIL! Why should we be watchful? Christians know the answer. All of us know the feeling of missing a person whom we love.

MAY THE TIME OF ADVENT BE FILLED WITH LONGING FOR THE ONE WHO LONGS FOR US MORE THAN WE LONG FOR HIM. GOD’S HEART LONGS FOR US! 

WHAT IS THE LONGING OF OUR HEARTS?

+ VISITING HIS OWN PEOPLE

The Bishop of the Diocese of Irkutsk (which is also our diocese), Cyryl Klimowicz, visited our parish from November 17^th to 25^th. The distance between Kamchatka and Irkutsk is around 4.5 thousand kilometers which is approximately 2795.03 miles. Our diocese is the biggest diocese in the world which covers half of Russia and includes four time zones. The patron of the diocese is Saint Joseph.

The Bishop came to his own people. We hope that he enjoyed his visit. We are his flock and he is our good shepherd who really cares for us even though we are far away from him. Each day, during the Eucharist, he nourished us with the Word of God. The bishop met and spoke with our parishioners. He is a man with a big and open heart; full of gentleness, simplicity and understanding. A sense of humor is also part of his personality. During the visitation there was always time for sharing daily life events; both the joys and difficulties which are part of life. The most important thing is to do everything with love, as Saint Paul says to us, and our bishop exemplifies it wonderfully.

We, happy Felicians, experienced great joy in our hearts when the bishop expressed his appreciation for our ministry here in Kamchatka. He had a chance to witness our ministry among the people here. Once he went with us to visit “Babuszka” Agnesa. The other day we introduced him to our Muslim friends with whom we have tea. We also showed him the photos from our Taiga trip. These are small things which give so much joy. They are more valuable because we put much love into them.

We have received the Bishop’s blessing to continue to growing in faith, trusting in God, and carrying God’s love to all. Bishop Cyryl went from Pietropavlovsk to Sachalin to visit his people. The distance between Pietropavlovsk and Sachalin is 2000 kilometers which is around 1242.24 miles.

A word to the parishioners.

After Eucharist at the “Babuszka” Agnesa’s house, common photo

A cup of tea, which was a must

+ ICE AND SNOW BLESS THE LORD

We already have winter. There is a lot of snow here. Purga is coming and it will last for at least three days. School is cancelled. However, we are not afraid of purga and continue with our ministry! Buses are operating and we are able to go out for evangelization in different parts of our town. Despite the weather (the snow is falling and the wind is blowing ) God, as always, puts those whom He wishes us to meet in our path. We took some photos from our evangelization trip. It was so good that I brought my camera. Sister Donata became famous in our market place. Whoever sees her greets her immediately.

Iwan is convinced that a human being possesses different kinds of energies. He is fascinated by bioenergetics. We met him at the Orthodox Church. He gave up on God a long time ago and now he fears Him.

 

Long live youth:). I met Olga, Inga and their friend at our famous Аллеи Флота. They are students. When I asked them whether I can take a photo of them, they all agreed. They thought I was a photographerJ. Now they know who I am. We arranged to meet again, this time  for чай.

+ LET US MAKE HASTE TO LOVE!

For a few days we have been aware of the severe health condition of Fr. John’s father. We prayed for his healing, but God’ plan was different than ours. Fr. John’s father passed away on November 11th. When it happened, Fr. John was on his way to see him. He arrived for his father’s funeral. We ask you to pray for the soul of the deceased Marian, for Fr. John, his family and friends. Although there is an empty place when a person passes away, in our hearts he/she stays with us forever. Such events remind us that we should make haste to love people!

We encourage you to go to our website www.kamczatka.org to read our November entries.

+ MAY THEY REST IN PEACE!

The month of November starts with the celebration of All Saints’ Day. Although nature is getting ready for winter sleep and we tend to think more about the passing of time, our God invites us to focus not on death but on life. He calls us to holiness. God says, “Be holy!”  We encourage you to compete in a good competition – strive for holiness today! We have already started doing so.

We celebrated All Saints’ Day in a totally different way than we did in Poland. Here it is a regular day and native people go to work. Our Orthodox brothers in faith will go to a cemetery after Easter. For us it was a feast. After morning Eucharist we went out with our “Babuszka”, Wanda Janowska, to visit her son’s grave. During our prayer the crows came. This is nothing unusual here because, as Mickiewicz wrote in his poetic drama “Dziady”, people bring food to the cemetery including alcohol. This way the crows always have a banquet. When the crows saw us they thought that we brought them something to eat. As you can imagine, they were disappointed.

On the Memorial of All Souls Day we divided into two groups. Fr. John and Sr. Donata went to a cemetery in Елизеве and to a new cemetery in Pietropawlowsk. Fr. Christopher and Sr. Jana went to a cemetery in Сосновке and to an old cemetery in our city. God gave us beautiful weather and although there was a lot of snow, it was not windy. We celebrated the Eucharist at the site of some Catholic graves, namely Anatoli’s grandmother, Jelena’s parents, Oksana’s husband and, Karina’s grandmother. We were happy that after so many years it was possible to profess our faith and to pray at the tombs. The presence of God is slowly appearing here and the soil is blessed with prayers. May they rest in peace! 

 

 Our lives are finished with death but when death comes there is the beginning of something new…