The second week of the Great Lent reminds us about God's deeds, about those miracles that Jesus Christ worked. The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, 2 says:

2009, Mar 18

1 And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.

2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.

3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.

4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.

5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

6 But there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,

7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?

8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?

9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?

10 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)

11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.

12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.

13 And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them.

We all understand very well that all the deeds worked by Son of God are deeds for the sake of

Good, Faith, Love to our Father. We all are equal in front of the Lord. He loves all of us: good and evil, healthy and leprous, because we all are His children.

Our church is trying its best to work the good. We help needy, orphans and handicapped children both in material and spiritual way.

Since some time ago, our parish takes care of 120 children from the orphanage for handicapped children located in the village Potiivka in Zhytomyr region. This second week of the Great Lent, children of our parish organized in the group Baby Lion and the group leader Galyna Oliynyk together with the parish volunteers and father Ihor Onyshkevych visited this children shelter.

These children are always happy to see us as if it the first time. They are open, spontaneous and sincere. This time besides sweets and presents, we brought a theatrical performance prepared by the group Baby Lion in the name of the great Bard Taras Shevchenko and the landscape paintings of the Carpathian region by the poet-artist Mariya Tomyn. The children enjoyed the every moment of the attention payed to them. They watched the performance and the paintings with admiration.

The material help is not most important. The warm world, affection, sincere smile are worth more for these children. They notice every detail and imbibe every droplet of love given to them. We as Christians have to follow our Lord's road and work good at least in such a way: not to pass the needy one, not to abandon the sick one, not to disdain the neighbor.

Mariya Tomyn, an artist

As of today in the times of the economical hardship, the humanitarian help is very important for the needy. We should remember about spiritual things as well. With the God's help, we should help people to turn to spirituality, to God, to the beauty of the world.

These children from the orphanage are devoid of parent's love they do not feel the warmth of their hands do not catch the loving glances. They are tragically handicapped. They grow in the closed circle and the closed world. Besides their supervisors and peers they should at least have some beautiful things in front of them which would remind them about kindness, love, and beauty.

I wish to visit this school next time to have a better look around because I have a goal to decorate the house, make it more more humane, warm and cozy. God created life to be good and joyful. These children also deserve to live in good faith, hope, and love. I would like to grant this for the children by means of paintings and pictures.

Galyna Oliynyk, Baby Lion group leader

Our group visited many orphanages before and in this one we are for the first time. We are astonished with the look of abandoned village, the littered roads, dullness and the primitive state of the community development. The lack of idea of love to your neighbor in the society just disarms.

We were somewhat late and the children and their supervisors were eagerly expecting us. At the beginning, children received us with caution, perhaps because we started with the serious Shevchenko poetry. When we switched to songs the children started singing and dancing with us.

The lack of communication with society is very noticeable here. This does not prevent the children to be open and sincere. In spite of their disabilities they go in for sports and arts: boys like playing football and girls like singing and painting. We even sang together a song made of Shevchenko poem on the music by Danylo Kryzhanivskyi. In such a candid atmosphere, the one and a half hour program flew by in a moment. We have presented the children a small library of Ukrainian literature that they can learn about our culture and traditions.

We were left with tears after the visit. The positive thing is that children from our group understand that they should share their love and knowledge with the other people. The more you give - the pore you get back. The more you love your neighbor - the more you love Christ.

Luba Mykhailuk

Fotographs: Maryana Chereshnivska