Dear sisters, dear brothers,

“I am trying to remember how it was before the war. It is so hard,” said Father Misha when we ran into each other at the door of our warehouse filled with humanitarian supplies. He seemed to be surprised by his own emotions. It was a beautiful sunny day in Kherson with a chill in the air. Yet as we were unloading multiple tons of flour by hand, we couldn’t feel the cold. Similarly, we didn’t pay much attention to the repeated sound of distant explosions that we could hear from this frontline city of southern Ukraine. The flour we brought was for the bakery and kitchen which supply the people in need and are run by the House of Saint Martin de Porres. Every morning they make hundreds of loaves of bread. The bakery workers had quickly learned to bake the finest bread, rolls, and sweet pastries. We all do everything we can to make sure that what we hand out to the city’s citizens is of the highest quality. I understand what Father Misha means. It is very hard to remember what our life looked like before February 24, 2022 — the day that the first Russian rockets fell on our country just before dawn.

Friends,

This speech from our Illinois Governor, JB Pritzker came on my car radio recently while I was driving. Realizing that he was saying something of significance not only to Illinois citizens but to the rest of the country, I parked the car on a side street to listen with greater attention. I found his well crafted speech delivered with a sense of urgency and conviction and had a message for the whole country. I place it here inviting you to take time to hear it and to read some of it here. I hasten to add that it holds a message that is about right and wrong, good and evil, survival and not surviving. Please take the time to consider and act on his words however you may choose to do so. 

May our country survive the forces that assault us.

— Joseph Kilikevice
Shem Center Director Emeritus

Dear sisters, dear brothers,

“If we truly trust God, then maybe this most stupid war in the world will come to an end. I came because the Pope wanted me to be with you during this Christmas time,” said Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, while in Fastiv the day before Christmas Eve. This was already his second visit to Fastiv since the beginning of the full-scale war. This time we celebrated together with the people from the refugee house, the members of the Dominican family, and the volunteers and friends from the St. Martin de Porres Center. “I want to share with you joy because God is born, and he brings peace. Let’s hope that this is the last Christmas of wartime.”