As February marks three years of total war in Ukraine, the CANA Fraternity continues to support Ukrainian couples and families facing immense hardship. Despite the challenges, hope and love endure within this community united by faith and commitment.
This February marks the third anniversary of the all-out war in Ukraine. A war whose consequences touch every person, every family. In every Ukrainian family, there is someone who has died, who has been wounded in the war, who has suffered the devastation caused by Russian bombs or rockets. The CANA fraternity has existed in Ukraine since 2012; the first couples took part in a CANA week in 2012 and 2013 in Poland, and then CANA weeks were organized every year in Ukraine. Unfortunately, this year the CANA week could not take place due to the war situation. The protracted war is leading to a shortage of soldiers at the front; as a result, more and more brothers (also from the CANA fraternity) are being drafted into the army and forced to leave their wives and families. And although most of the CANA brothers live in Western Ukraine, far from the front line, none of them feel safe. Russian drone and missile strikes are repeated over and over again, people have to protect themselves in shelters, electricity is cut off for days at a time, children attend school at a distance or intermittently (because there’s no room in the air-raid shelters). Many families (or parts of families) have left Ukraine for other countries. All this means that people are tired, deadlocked and gradually losing hope that the war will end.
For CANA, this situation is very difficult; it’s virtually impossible to organize a weekend or retreat for couples; the only things that can be organized are one-day “weekends”, without children but often without husbands to attend. That’s why CANA week couldn’t take place this year. Despite this, the married couples of the CANA fraternity (24 couples got engaged at the opening meeting of the year in September) are not giving up trying to live according to the points of the CANA commitment, meeting on Tuesdays for the prayer group (alternating physical and remote meetings), or meetings of their small fraternities (if brothers live far apart, they often have to meet online).
Lord, we thank you for all the couples of the CANA Fraternity in Ukraine. We thank you for the love they have for each other and for their commitment to their relationship. We thank you for the journey they have made together through CANA, and for all the graces you have given them along the way. We also thank you for their families, their children, their brothers and sisters, their parents and grandparents, for their friends and for all the people close to their hearts.
Lord, you also see the suffering they have endured as a result of war. You know their wounds and what they have lost. We ask you to heal their broken and wounded hearts, and to comfort them. We ask you to bring this war to a swift end. We pray that you will intervene with your power and entrust our brothers and sisters in Ukraine to care for them.
May your kingdom come!
Your will be done!