Dear Members, Benefactors and Apostles of the Living Rosary,

It is our joy to extend deepest thanks to Sally Olson for the beautiful prayer card of Our Lady of Perpetual Help translated into the Ukrainian language. Our faithful have a very deep devotion to the Virgin of Perpetual Help. The Church professes Mary as the God-bearing One, or “Bohorodytsia” in Ukrainian. Mary is seen as the perfect model for our journey towards holiness. Devotion to the Mother of God is a central aspect of our deeply ingrained spiritual and cultural heritage. Mary is the Mother of Christmastide. Mary is the Gateway of God, who has given the King the entrance to His world.

Through Mary’s virginal body, the Savior came to His people. The humble shepherds heard the angels call and made haste to worship Him. The Magi from the East followed the star and found the Child with Mary, His Mother, and falling down, they worshiped Him. Mary is the one person to share His Life during the beautiful years of His formation and growth. It is no wonder that the Church has always been the conqueror of heretics. When any doubt arises concerning the Faith, the Church turns to Mary and understands Truth from her relationship to Christ and His relationship to God.

When the days of Mary’s purification were fulfilled according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord. The aged Simeon, just and devout, revealed to them that “... one day a sword would pierce the Heart of Mary, that the thoughts of many hearts would be revealed.” Mary accepted His sorrow as hers. God had returned to His people. The temple had, at last, seen the purpose of its existence. In the years that followed, He walked at her side, loved her as the center of His human world, grew strong with the food She prepared for Him. His body was clothed with the garments that came from her loom and needle. For Mary, those years were glorious beyond the power of inspired words. When Jesus came of age, again they traveled to the temple. The Boy Jesus remained in Jerusalem without His parents’ knowledge. The sight of the temple had thrilled Him: this was His Father’s house. Listening to the doctors discussing Scripture and fumbling in their interpretations, He grasped the first opportunity to teach them, in spite of the cost of pain it would give His mother. In response to her expression of sorrow, He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them.

Under Mary’s training and thanks to the exquisite obedience of Jesus, He grew into the Model for all mankind: perfect man, as He was perfect God. The hidden Life of Jesus was Mary’s special charge. The public Life of Jesus belonged to His Father and to the people.

Jesus worked His first miracle when Mary expressed her compassion for the plight of the newlyweds whose wine had run out. “They have no wine.” To the attendants, Mary said, “Do whatever He tells you.” Does not Mary perform the same intercession for us, again and again, and Jesus NEVER fails to hear her plea in our behalf. It was through Mary’s acceptance of God’s work that He, the Word of God, had begun His human life. No commandment did He give, but She loved it; no slightest wish or will of God was expressed, but She obeyed it. Each day brought them closer to Calvary, to the Cross of Salvation. For this He was born, for this She had brought Him into the world. This great event of His Life - an event without honor or glory, Mary must share it and, in all humility, She does so. Mary on Calvary offered her Son, the Victim of sacrifice for our sins - the Body and Blood of the Savior. Christ committed to His Mother’s care the disciple whom He dearly loved and, thus, Mary’s motherly arms embraced symbolically the whole human race. The Mother of God became our Mother. Like John, we must take her into our home and into our hearts. Mary’s power with the Heart of Christ is infinite! Run to this Mother and place your families, your health, your pains and sufferings, ambitions and humiliations in her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. She will wrap you in her mantle of protection, and grant you safe refuge from all evil.

At every opportunity, we entrust you to the Mother of God, asking her to tenderly and powerfully protect you from all adversity. Your love and prayers for us have given us the courage and strength to persevere during this crucifixion of war. United as one in the bosom of Holy Mother the Church, may we embrace the Cross, the source of our Eternal Life!

I impart to all of you, my priestly blessing:

In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Fr. IVAN KOLODIY Byzantine Rite, Greek-Catholic Church,

UKRAINE