Originally MONDAY, JULY 20,
2009
So who are Cyril and Vannya?
Hi. So, I have a bit of time and possibility to post something. Blessed be the will of God! :) The paradox of Russia grows bigger in my mind as my visit here
continues. I was happily surprised in Krasnoyarsk by the increase of normal,
good, faithful families who are now Catholic (we have 4 or 5 in the parish
now). The two years I lived here it was hard to find even one. And the depth of
the faith has slowly sunk deeper into the hearts of those parishoners who have
remained faithful. Yet sadly, many people have left the Church. Something
little happens that they don't like and they never return. Sunday and daily
Mass attendance is shockingly down. And now that I have arrived in Achinsk I
realize it is not just Krasnojarsk -many of the babuskas here have died and
people no longer attend Mass. Often we are the only ones at daily Mass -and
Sunday attendance is half of what it was 8 years ago. Besides resistance to the
Catholic faith by the local Orthodox Church, this is simply a global problem (I
believe). Modern culture is not friendly with the idea of faith, sacrifice, prayer...
and through the Internet and TV modern western culture has crept into hearts
everywhere in the world. People don't want God because they don't need Him.
Many priests and sisters I have known have abandoned their calls as well -the
idea of sacrificial love has been extinguished in many hearts. But all the more
we must fight to believe, to witness to the world by our lives (in our families
and marriages, in our convents and parishes and missions) that we were created
for God alone (and not for ourselves) -to know, love, and serve Him faithfully
following His voice and not giving up 'the fight.' We must show the world that
only God's Love -a Love strong enough to be crucified and bright enough to hope
in the Resurrection -is worth living for. My heart is broken by Jesus' saddness
-and so in addition to bringing Him lost souls, I search for faithful, pure
ones to offer Him as well. This I usually find in children.
Some happy news from Eastern Siberia is the story of Cyril and
Vannya. Their short life-history I described in a post two years ago. I am so pleased at the work of God's mercy and grace
in their lives. Their hearts are truly healed from the wounds inflicted by
their alchoholic, prostitute mother. Their aunt adopted them and through her
love (and your prayers) today they are happy, normal, faithful children. I get
to spend a lot of time with them here. Cyril has this awesome love for Jesus
crucified. I think it is only through such a love -through seeing and loving
His wounds on the Cross -that little Cyril has come to grips with his own past.
He is very deep and talks to me a lot about his old 'mama Ira' who beat him and
as he said, 'had a demon in her.' We work on forgiveness, love, and prayer in
regards to her. But at this point he has told me he would rather pray for the
conversion of the devil than for her (because he does not want to see her in
heaven.) I know that the grace of God that has brought him this far will
continue to carry him forward. Where Cyril is the philosopher, Vannya is the
worker -he will spend hours in the garden working with the sisters and I
without a break (and He is only 4). Anyway, I thought you would appreciate the
update and this picture I took of them a few days ago. (Cyril is on the left,
Vannya on the right).
From FRIDAY, MARCH 09, 2007
Some of you might remember last year when I wrote home from Russia about the two little boys who were locked in their apartment alone by their prostitute alcoholic mother (and I spent several nights with them when we broke in through a window). At the time they were (Cyril) 3 years and (Vannya) 6 months. Here are my original letters... I print these because although they were from 2005, there still are children this way:
…There is a woman from the parish here, Natasha, who is
living at the monastery. She has no family except her little sister who is 25.
She allowed her little sister to move in her apartment with her when her sister
got pregnant with her first baby (the girl is not married)... She now has two
little boys (from different fathers). Last night this sister told me she was a
prostitute for many years. Her sister drinks a lot and when she gets drunk she
beats people up. She beat Natasha up and that is why Natasha came to live here
at the monastery. The neighbor lady called here last night and said that she
beat the neighbor lady and that she locked her baby (5 months old) and little
boy (who is 3) in the apartment and left them. Natasha, sister Tatiana
and I went to the apartment to see the children. This woman hates her sister
(who kindly allows them to live with her) and also hates Sister Tatiana
(because she has told her that she needs to change her life). She loves me,
though (we really do not know why –maybe because I’m American), and so I can
work with her a little bit because of that... I only met her twice before this in
Russia ,
once when she was pregnant with her first little boy and again about 9 months
later -both times she was drunk but we prayed together. When we arrived she was
already back at home (we had been called because she had abandoned the
children) and she remembered me and was very happy to see me. She was too drunk
to take care of her kids but would not let anybody touch them except me... and
she said she wanted to talk with me. She begged me to stay the night. I did not
want to stay at all, but Jesus told me that I should and that I should not be
afraid. He was very strong in my heart and in love. This woman told me all
about her life and sins -I was only sad that I could not absolve them... she
said she was too big of a sinner for anyone to forgive her, even God, and she
was too embarrassed to tell a priest. I was glad I stayed because I just prayed
all night and when the baby woke up wet and crying and hungry the mom was hung-over
sleeping from being drunk and would not get up to help him -so I did. The baby
smelled like bathroom and the house smelled like vodka and smoke... it was
horrible. But what was worse was that these children live like this always. There
are so many in Russia
like this -I just forgot how sad the situation is here... it was interesting too
because she had this baby right after Johnny[1]
died. She named him Evan, she said, after Johnny and the Pope –JPII- (even
though she does not really believe in God). I took this as a beautiful sign and
prayed asking for their help last night. It is just so dark... but I feel Jesus
so strong with me.
It breaks my heart that in Russia there is no program like there
is in Poland or the US where if a mom is drunk and beats kids that they take
the children away and let someone else care for them... it is just a very
serious and sad thing... When we call the police to report that this woman is
drunk and locked her kids in the house crying, the police show up drunk and
say, “So what? So this woman got drunk once. Everyone gets drunk sometimes…”
And they do not do anything to help the children.
A couple nights later I wrote:
Last night was really hard for me. Natasha’s sister got
drunk again and fell asleep and her little boy and baby screamed for several
hours... we could not get into the apartment to help them because the door was
locked from the inside and little Cyril was not strong or tall enough to open
it. In the end Natasha somehow climbed from the neighbor's balcony into a
window she broke. Those poor children.
Their ‘mother’ slept passed out drunk for like 7 hours and then woke up and was
mad we were there. She never said she felt bad or was wrong in drinking. She
never said anything. I think she is psychologically ill... Anyway, it is crazy
in Russia
because we can't do anything for these children. The police won't take them away
from her unless she wants them too. And they don't care that she is drunk all
the time and like today she fell asleep for 7 hours while the kids screamed. The
baby fell on his face during that time... they could have died. Anyway, Natasha
(this woman’s sister) is a mess. She just cries and cries and lies in bed. She
only said two sentences to me last night -'Where
is God in all this?' and 'I don't
want to live'. My heart is broke for her. I just have no idea how to
help. I have nothing to say that can help... she is holy in how she tries to
love her sister anyway (even if her sister says she wants to kill her)... What
can I say to her? How can I help? I can help only in my fiat love with Jesus
–only by striving to be faithful to my vocation...
October 30,
2005
As you know I spent the last month visiting Siberia . It was wonderful to be back there. I
love Russia ,
even though it is very difficult to love. I think I love it so much because it
is like a great cold, barren desert -there is such a need for love there.
It is like if you met a little, abandoned, shivering child in the street you
could not help but love him, help him... Russia is like that with my
heart... Its pitifulness just calls forth great love. I saw during my month
stay how bad the situation in Russia
still is. Although there were some little signs of light, growth, miracles, in
general the situation there is worse than before. In Krasnoyarsk there are no more beggars
anywhere on the streets -this really surprised me since there used to be
several on every street corner. I know that the rich are richer now than before,
but the economic life of the 'normal everyday Russian' has not gotten that much
better. When I mentioned this to the other missionaries we all agreed it was a
bit strange that all the beggars in St.
Petersburg , Krasnoyarsk
and Magadan disappeared almost overnight. As I began to ask the Russians about
this, their answers were similar to our missionary friends'... the 'gut' is
that these beggars were rounded up and either sent somewhere or killed. They
always were a bit controlled by a mob-type system -answering to someone and
giving a portion of what they received each day to someone who offered
'protection', and we fear now they were simply gotten rid of. One good thing in
Krasnoyarsk was that I met about 12 or 13 new little faces at the parish -in
the two years I have been gone some young families have found the courage to
begin to have children again. We never had little ones at the parish before (maybe
a visitor for a bit or one American family I knew had a child) but Russians
were afraid to have children in such a bad situation. Now they have stepped
forth and begun to have little ones again -these children will be the first
generation born into the Church and raised with a normal relationship with God.
And so this was a bit of hope. One more beautiful thing in Achinsk that I
saw was that the parishioners requested that the first Friday of the month that
they have all night adoration -each person taking an hour and spending the rest
of the night sleeping at the parish retreat house (they can't travel to and
from home like in America because most have no car and public transportation
does not work late at night).
In many other ways, though, I was saddened for Russia and
reminded of our deep need for prayer for Russia 's conversion. I was reminded
of Jesus' words in Matthew 12:43-45: "When an unclean spirit goes out of a
person it roams through arid regions searching for rest but finds none. Then it
says, ‘I will return to my home from which I came.’ But upon returning, it finds it empty, swept clean, and put in order.
Then it goes and brings back with itself seven other spirits more evil than
itself, and they move in and dwell there; and the last condition of that person
is worse than the first. Thus it will be with this evil generation." I never understood this passage well
until Russia
-to me it is very clear that just this has begun to happen there. When God
casts evil from a person or a home or a country that person (or people) must
fill what has be emptied with God and His Life and Love. They must fill what
was emptied of evil with a life of goodness... The 'demon' of communism was
'cast out' of Russia ,
but because they had not filled that empty space quickly enough with God (at no
fault of their own, many times, for they did not know better) many other
'demons' have entered their society -a great demon of alcoholism, prostitution,
pornography, witchcraft, etc... Their entire society is falling apart. I know
that they had some of these problems during Communism, but in a more hidden way
-yet now it is in the streets. Drunken people passed out all over the streets
-pornography on billboards, etc... prostitutes line the streets at night...In
the bigger cities it is not as evident, but in smaller cities and in the
villages (where most people live) things are very dark.
For example,
everyone is drunk. It is not a funny drunk -it is a sickening drunkeness that
kills people... I wrote most of you asking for prayers for Irene that night I
spent with her children when she was drunk. A few days before I left she
got so drunk again that she passed out and after her little children (3 years
old and 7 months) screamed and cried for a few hours the neighbor climbed
through his balcony and broke a window to get into the apartment to let her
sister in to help them (the children were locked in the apartment with
their passed out mother). The baby had fallen on his face into a pillow and
could have suffocated. The older boy lost his voice from crying. When we
arrived they had already gotten into the apartment but the woman's sister was
afraid of staying there alone because if her sister would have woken up she had
already threatened to kill her... so I stayed with her... The sad thing is that
when we have called the police about such matters they either show up drunk
themselves or make no big deal about it saying, "Well, what is the big
deal? So she got drunk? Everyone does that sometimes." There is no way to
help these children because Russia
has a clause in her Constitution that the government cannot bother in family
matters unless someone is killed... When I came home at 3am that night after
straightening out the situation as much as I could do I was heartbroken when I
saw 4 little boys (who could not have been older than 5 or 6) sitting on a
bench in the street. When I asked about this I was told (by both Russians and
the missionaries) that that was normal for that city. They said, "Mary, do
you know how many children live in the streets here? In Russia there
are 5 million children living like that in the streets." Their parents get
drunk and they don't want to stay home with them... It is just sad. And there
are not enough missionaries to help all these kids. There is just so much work
there and so few workers.... I was reminded of the Gospels so often: "The
harvest is plenty but the laborers are few... ask the Master of the harvest to
send more laborers into the field..."(Luke 10:2) and "At
the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they
were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd."(Mt
9:36) Oh these poor children!
And when you try to help people you don't always get far
-how can you help convert a drunk person? how can you help a woman who has lost
her conscience totally (she drinks to forget her life and sin and so that she can
go work as a prostitute -something she would never do soberly -so that she can
make money for more vodka... it is a vicious cycle)... Yet in all this I
realized more and more how much simply the presence of prayer is needed in Russia . People
who pray will help them more than any social work program -for it is a
spiritual battle as much as a physical one there. If someone's heart is frozen
cold by sin, wounds, etc... and they refuse to take the gift of Jesus' fiery
Love from you, the one thing you can do is hold Jesus' Love and stand near them
until their hearts begin to melt a little -and after lots of patience, prayer
and simple Love (and lots of time) they will open to receive Jesus' Love
themselves. And so that is the work of missionaries in Russia . Yes, it
is very dark and empty there -but we need people to go and live holding Jesus'
light in the midst of that... just to live faithful to their lives with God in
the midst of these others ... and then that light will slowly begin to move out
and ignite others' hearts. Prayer is the most important work in Russia -for
without it no one will receive the gift of Love that Jesus wants to share with
them. There are so many problems there that Russia needs deep healing
-miraculous healing -and that only comes through prayer.
Well, I have good news about them. After their mother sold everything in their apartment (including their clothes and toys, plates and furniture) for money so she could drink, she eventually did call the police and abandon the boys to the state. This actually is very good, because the police never bother in ‘family matters’ unless someone dies and so there was no other way for the boys to be rescued from the situation. The neighbors said that when the police arrived for the children that Cyril actually ran with great joy to the get in the car (he wanted out of there). Vannya cried so hard for three days (and was ignored by his caretakers) that he then fell into deep depression and laid listless without emotion day and night. Their aunt (who is a faithful Catholic at our parish) had not been able to do anything to help them, but after their mother gave them up their aunt was able to gain custody of them. Their mother had actually stolen their aunt’s apartment from her (long story –too long for the blog) and so the only problem was that their aunt had no where to live.
So for a time the older boy (Cyril) had to stay in an orphanage
(where his aunt could come visit once a week) and Vannya had to stay at the
hospital (because the orphanage didn’t take children so young). Unfortunately
the hospital did not allow Vannya’s aunt to visit him during this time because
they feared his emotions would return and then he would cry (and they don’t
like crying children). One month ago Natasha (the aunt) was finally able to get
a job (she lost her job because of her sister –another long story) and found a
one-room apartment to live in with the boys. She is having lots of problems
with Cyril (who has issues both because his mother was drunk her entire
pregnancy/birth with him, but also from being sworn at, abused, locked in the
apartment, and then abandoned.) I hope with love he will be able to be healed.
He keeps asking her, “You won’t throw us away, will you, mama?” Vannya had been
very neglected at the hospital and so he showed absolutely no emotion this
first month Natasha had him. She said it was like he had been in the military.
If she said, “Go to sleep, Vannya,” he laid down and closed his eyes. If she
said, “Get up, Vannya,” he immediately stood. We were really happy when I visited
this week that for the first time he began to be afraid of me (a stranger) and
cry for Natasha. I told Natasha this meant he finally was bonding and it was a
very good sign. And he does smile now too.
Anyway,
I have great hope for them. PLEASE
keep them in your prayers! (And now in 2017 as well...) What I would give to see what they look like now! A reminder: KEEP PRAYING FOR RUSSIA... IN FATIMA MARY SAID, 'THROUGH RUSSIA MY IMMACULATE HEART WILL TRIUMPH!!!'
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