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K azakhstan is an immense place, above all because of the extension of the steppe that never quite seems to end. It is calculated to cover an area at least 7 times than that of Italy. Here a place 500 kilometers away is considered as more a less ‘near’. The population of Kazakhstan is only about 15 million, 60% of which are Muslim, 40% of whom are orthodox in origin (many of whom are atheist) and about 300,000 Catholics. The capital was transferred to Astana, a city in the central north. This has replaced for some time now the older capital of Almaty, a place considered unfavorably located in the south of the country which counts around 1 million inhabitants.
Kazakhstan gives one the impression of being an immense desert plain of arid land almost completely uncultivated. Only a very small part of it has been made into farmland. And yet, a group of experts have said that notwithstanding the temperatures of -40 C during winter and 40+ C in summer, if wheat was cultivated there it could provide the daily bread of about half a billion people. The name of the capital, in fact, signifies “City of Wheat.” The great steppe however, has never been used for the cultivation of wheat, but was rather adopted for use in nuclear experimentation during the Soviet period and also used to house concentration camps for political prisoners: the infamous “gulags”. It is estimated that hundreds of millions died of hunger and torture in the gulags of Kazakhstan and Siberia during the 70 year period of Russian atheistic communism.
The nuclear experiments carried out on the land have had grave consequences.
The effects of the large amounts of radiation, are not yet completely gone, meaning that many zones in the steppe are still considered zones of ‘danger.’ Many are handicapped and disabled; many are born deformed, paralyzed, demented, and cancerous. These are the results of man’s achievement without God. How can we not pray for the salvation of their souls?
Another resource of Kazakhstan is the presence near the Caspian Sea of oil wells that number among the first in the world in the production of ‘black gold’. It is not known however, where the great wealth produced finishes up. Kazakhstan is a place of great poverty and many youth are constrained to immigrate abroad in search of employment.
Reflecting upon these things as one travels the hundreds of kilometers in the steppe, ones mind spontaneously dwells upon the numerous victims immolated in this place. The prayers therefore become ever more fervent. Oh that the Queen of the Missions would cause the multitude of souls here so crushed by atheistic communism, who are themselves reduced morally and spiritually to an arid steppe, to be reanimated and re-evangelized, and thus become a new Church, alive and fruitful in the bearing of saints and consecrated persons.
A closed hell is convenient!
Before the vastness of this land, one is also aware of the disproportion of the strengths of the Catholic Church in regards to the needs of the place. Such is the case of the diocese of Almati that at present has only one religious community. The diocese has only 7 parishes, one of which is found in the city that counts 1 million people. The other parishes are at a distance of 700, 500, 400, 300 and 200 kilometers from one another, with numerous chapels dispersed over an area of 1000 kilometers that count about 100 000 Catholics. There is truly good reason therefore to pray “the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His vineyard.”(Mt. 9: 38). What must one do in the face of this immense field of evangelization? It comes to mind that if vocations were on hand one would hasten to help the poor local churches who feel themselves completely impotent in the face of the enormous numbers of people to convert and save. So what can be done and what should be done when vocations are so few in respect to such a need? All of this is deeply and strongly painful, made all the more acute when considering the indifference or insensibility of those who find it obviously comfortable to sustain that hell is closed and that all are therefore saved making it pointless to be pre-occupied, working for nothing as God’s mercy is infinite and has already saved everybody. This is a diabolical way to think that leads to the throwing of the whole world into the “arms of satan,” to use the frightening expression of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina.
Learning the Russian Language
The work to be done here is truly enormous: catechesis and religious instruction, various meetings, preparing the ground work first of all by intense prayer and the witness of consecrated life. One could fall into discouragement if not for the presence of the Immaculate, our hope and the treasurer of all grace. For our part, it is necessary to be “docile instruments” in Her hands, as St. Maximilian M. Kolbe teaches, and then conversions will certainly not be lacking.
Our stay here, our help, our reflections and projects are developing slowly but surely, always in consideration of the good of souls and the good of our religious community. It is the common good that needs to be safeguarded in order to obtain fruitfulness not so much in the material and economic order, as in the spiritual order. Such includes the conversion of the many un-baptized, the sanctification of the missionary friars, the increase of Catholics in the region, and the promotion of religious and priestly vocations for the assistance of the People of God.
The problem here, both crucial and practical, is the knowledge of the Russian language, especially for the priests who have the continuous honor of celebrating mass, hearing confessions, preaching, teaching, catechizing, comforting and sustaining the faithful. Every project we have for the apostolate would remain blocked by the inability to communicate. The commitment of the individual religious, therefore, must be very serious as regards the study of the language in order to learn to understand and speak Russian so as not to delay getting closer to the people and evangelizing them. The missionary sisters are occupied with the animation of the Liturgy, with catechizing, visiting families, looking after children, assisting the sick, and working for an increase in vocations to the religious and priestly life. The area of missionary work to carry out for the Immaculate and with the Immaculate is truly great, a work that consists in offering the most beautiful and precious witness of a virginal life that is consecrated to God and to souls awaiting salvation. Our missionaries desire to be a small plot of fertile ground for the Immaculate who are committed to making the land of Kazakhstan fruitful with grace. This we hope to achieve by sowing the seed through catechesis, multiplying baptisms and the other sacraments, spreading the light of the gospel, animating and sustaining the faith of our brothers while following their journey of salvation towards the homeland of Heaven. This we do while working and suffering happily together for our Heavenly Mother and Guide, trusting unlimitedly in her maternal mediation.
A true part of the Church
About 150 kilometers along the road towards Astana, with a side route of about 40 kilometers, we find the parish of Kamicinski. We travel the last kilometers on a path since there is no asphalt. In compensation for the journey we find in the little village a beautiful parish church dedicated to Our Lady of Czestokowa with around 20 women there united to pray together. The women regret our sudden arrival as they were unable to inform the others, above all the youth and the children, of the possibility to go to Mass.
Seeing the faith and devotion of those women, almost all of them elderly, kneeling on the pavement, devout in singing and receiving Holy Communion, makes one think about that part of the Church most authentic, the part that is suffering and faithful, that lives with the sensus fidei guided by the Holy Spirit. Seeing that group of faithful, united spontaneously in prayer on Sunday, who didn’t know Holy Mass would be celebrated, one well understands how the sensus fidelium sustains the members of the Church, builds the Church, carries forward the true faith of the Church, despite persecutions, struggles, the loss of pastors, death and the dispersion of most of the faithful.
In the Cathedral, a concert of sacred music was held in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Pontificate of Pope John Paul II. The Cathedral was full of people. The homage offered to the Holy Father testifies to the gratitude felt for his mission as pastor of the entire world, for his teaching that has enriched the patrimony of doctrine and sustained the faith of the People of God in these times of great confusion. It is beautiful that even in this place so far away from western Europe where the Catholic presence has been reduced to the absolute minimum, the anniversary of the Pope is celebrated in great numbers by both the authorities and people.
“Go into the whole world...”
Reflecting on the fact that a great part of humanity is still without faith in Christ and His grace, we Christians must remember the great commission given us by Jesus: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”(cf. Mt. 28: 20). This global evangelization and school of Christianity for all humanity, this missionary spirit is something that Jesus commands us to. It is clear with His command that Jesus does not simply exhort us, but rather expressly orders us to go, preach, baptize, so as to make all men “His disciples,” His followers, because, “he who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mk. 16: 16). This is the truth, which is the light of life. And yet today, so-called syncretism, the Babel of religions that all claim to save mankind in their own way, spreads more and more. This degrades and offends the very concept of “Truth”, the “Truth that sets us free” (Cf. Jn. 8:32) from error and deception, from sin and from death. In Astana, for example, the Mayor, a moderate Muslim, is planning a sort of ‘Temple of Religions,’ where all can pray to their own ‘god,’ everyone according to their own ‘creed’, all in peace, without fight or contrast. It is difficult to understand how one can conceive of such a thing if not from the presupposition that the “Truth” does not exist, and that the true ‘god’ is considered to be Absolute Relativism, which is the opposite of God. It would be better therefore to call this Temple the “Temple of the god who does not exist”; this goes well beyond the paganism in the time of St. Paul who adored the “unknown God,” who at least does exist. It is good then to remember St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, who ardently desired to save all souls tenaciously insisting on this point, defending the “Truth” that there can be only one: Christ-God. To reach Him, there is only one way, and that is the way chosen by God to come to us: Mary Most Holy, the Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God and of all. The Queen of the Missions, therefore, must carry us, her “absolute property” to bring the light of the “Truth” to all peoples, so that they also may become disciples of Christ, the “Way, the Truth and the Life” (cf. Jn. 14: 6). To Her we entrust ourselves, in Her we place our trust, and with Her we work for the salvation of Kazakhstan.
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The Word Was Made Flesh is a monthly missionary review of MISSiOMARIAE.NET. It publishes articles on the missions and related topics such as the Directives of the Magisterium on the missions, Apostolic spirituality, Mariology, homilies and sermons and more...
"Come with us to die of hunger, of fatigue, of humiliations and of sufferings for the Immaculate
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