OUR LADY OF GROUCHIY

Day 276: February 12

Our Lady of Grouchiv, Ukraine

The story of Grouchiv (Hrushiv or Grushew) and its apparitions or events concerning the Blessed Virgin originates long before 1970, in fact it begins in the seventeenth century, when the Blessed Mother appeared for the first time, in the lower part of the village. The people, to commemorate the event, planted a willow tree in that place. A century later, a spring gushed out at the foot of the willow tree and people came to collect water. Many healings took place that made the sanctuary famous.

In 1806, Stepan Chapowsky painted an image of Our Lady there. The villagers fixed it on the willow tree and the pilgrimages to that place intensified, so much so that the owner of the land, annoyed by the fact that the pilgrims were stepping on it, decided to call an unbeliever, J. Kina, to build a barrier around the willow.

In 1856 a cholera epidemic broke out. A woman then saw the Mother of God in a dream "My daughter, please clean the desecrated well. Celebrate a Mass there and death will stop affecting the village." The epidemic ceased and a chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity was built near the spring.

The Greek-Catholic Church paid for its loyalty to Rome with imprisonment and countless deaths. It is in this context that on April 26, 1987, the day of the anniversary of Chernobyl and at the dawn of perestroika, an 11-year-old girl, Maria Kizyne, had apparitions of the Virgin.

Maria, as she was leaving home to go to school, noticed a strange light on the deconsecrated chapel (closed to worship by the communist regime in 1947) that bordered the garden of her house. She paused to observe it, when, suddenly, she saw, on one of the faces of the octagonal tower that covers the dome of the chapel, a figure: it was a woman dressed in black with a child in her arms. The little girl ran back to her mother and informed her. The mother came out and, recognizing Our Lady, invited her daughter to kneel down and pray. The image of the Virgin remained visible to everyone for a month, at times in a window of the bell tower or on the top of the dome or in the sky above the church. Direct witnesses of the miraculous event were at least half a million people.

Our Lady gave Maria, in the course of the numerous apparitions that the young visionary had, several messages: sometimes weeping she asked for penance for the remission of the sins of humanity; on other occasions she called for prayer and forgiveness for the conversion of Russia, to the recitation of the Holy Rosary, a powerful weapon against Satan. She called for those who died in the Chernoby disaster, which was a warning and a sign for the whole world.

Among them was Josyp Terelya, who recognized the Virgin he had seen in prison, on his deathbed, and his testimony spread with great clamour. Born in 1943, Josyp Terelya was raised by his maternal grandmother, a fervent Catholic. He became a militant of Catholic Action and a fervent adorer of the Eucharist. At the age of 19, he was imprisoned and remained in prison for 15 years (1962-1976). When he was freed, his fiancée, who had been waiting for him, was finally able to marry him. Josyp then confided to her the two apparitions of the Virgin, during his time in prison.

On February 12, 1970, in the prison of Vladimir, 165 km northeast of Moscow, the Virgin appeared to him inviting him to unconditional forgiveness, especially towards his enemies, the Muscovite Russians.

Mary also predicted to him: "You have years of trials and humiliations ahead of you. Russia remains in darkness and error. There will be no peace until the people repent and the work of my Son is done; there will be no peace because it can only come there, where justice exists. Pray for your enemies, forget them and a path of light will open before you."

A second apparition occurred two years later: 'On 12 February 1972 ... I was in the solitary confinement cell. The room was cold as hell; I suffered to the root of my hair. Only a hanging lamp lit up the room. I lifted the muff near the lamp to warm my hands; but the guard saw me through the peephole and turned off the light. (…) I couldn't move. I lay down on the cot waiting to die. It was then that I felt the warm contact of a female hand, sweet as milk. I felt warmed. I felt warmth in the room. I thought I was hallucinating or dying. But it was then that I heard the voice: "You called me and I came to you. Don't you think it's me?" Then I saw a young woman in front of me. The first time she said to me, "You will not be freed from this prison; You have only gone half the way, but do not be afraid, I am with you."

"L'Ukrain Weekly", a weekly magazine of Ukrainian Catholics living in exile in England, reported that on May 13, 1987, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, during a local TV program on the subject of the day, the image of the Virgin also appeared on television screens and was seen throughout the region.

The crowd in those days became imposing. The clandestine newspaper "Chronicles of the Ukrainian Catholic Church", quoted by "Ukrainian Weekly", spoke of 80,000 people a day arriving on the scene by all means. There were bus and car license plates from all the states of the USSR. The police, caught between old habits and Gorbachev's "Perestroika", created obstacles a little, erected fences, made a "ferocious face"; a little let it go. The regime's press, including the authoritative "Literaturnaria Gazeta", followed the same line; it bittersweetly admitted the exceptional influx of pilgrims from all parts of the Union, but hastened to explain that it was not a matter of "faith in miracles" (these "antiques"), but of simple curiosity.

This happened at the beginning of perestroika. It was the catalyst for an awareness when the regime began, hesitantly, to put an end to the persecutions. From this point of view, the event is of historical importance, it is the key moment in which human freedom reoriented the course of history.

From the April 1988 messages: "Teach children to pray. Teach them to live in the truth and live in the truth yourself. Say the Holy Rosary. It is the weapon against Satan... I have come to comfort you and to tell you that your sufferings will soon end. Be careful... You here in Ukraine have received the knowledge of the one true apostolic Church... The Eternal God is calling you. That's why I was sent to you... Despite the long persecutions you have suffered, you have not lost faith, hope and charity."

Maria explains: "She then asked us to pray, to teach the children prayer, the Rosary, to pray constantly for the dead. I heard these words: "I have come to you because here the fervent people will spread my message everywhere. I know where I have to go. I go where is best for my Son. Remember that sin is forbidden pleasure. The Mother of God tells you to offer your lives. Each one of you must share in Jesus' sufferings. In this way, believe me, you will redeem souls who have fallen into sin... Do not be afraid and pray, pray, pray incessantly. Recognize Jesus, publicly. Don't be ashamed to make the sign of the cross. Prepare yourselves for great persecutions and new sacrifices. Great things are about to happen. In the Philippines, Catholics took to the streets without soldiers shooting them. The hour will come when the Mother of God will act in the same way in the Soviet Union as well. (…) Ukraine will become independent (...) You often quarrel out of pride and human vanity. Pray. Prayer, the Rosary, will save you. The antichrist does everything to defeat you. Remember: peace comes only from Redemption. Peace is calm and rest, and you are not yet at peace."

St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"The inexpressible Operations of the Divine Persons, living in you, reach their peak. The Word, according to the Father's Will and through the work of the Holy Spirit, takes flesh in you! The Lord is with you!"

(Justin Russolillo, Spirit of Prayer, trans. Louis Caputo, Vocationist Fathers, Newark, 1996, p. 157)