Celebration of faith and peace at children’s festival in Belarus
The Catholic Church in Belarus is highly involved in pastoral work with children and young people. Every week, hundreds of children attend catechesis, and every year numerous children receive their first Holy Communion. During the Soviet period, the practice of religion was severely restricted, but thanks to the deep faith passed on by grandparents, the Faith still has deep roots.
The Children’s Festival Day is a special event for the Catholic Church in Belarus and takes place thanks to the support of Aid to the Church in Need’s benefactors. The Children’s Festival Day has proved to be a great success over the last three to four years. It started with 100 participants, but this year there were around 2,000 children from various dioceses taking part. The day combines play and prayer and brings the children closer to God while strengthening the community within the Church.
A moving moment of this year’s festival was the release of doves to represent peace and the Holy Spirit. This act was a reminder of how important it is to pray for peace today – peace in our own hearts, in our families and in society, peace for the country and for neighbouring countries. The children also learnt the deep spiritual meaning of the dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit who gives us His gifts. Releasing the doves also meant joy. And the most beautiful thing is when a child is cheerful and happy.
“We are extremely grateful to Aid to the Church in Need for their great help in organising this meeting. Thanks to this help, we were able to organise a real festival of faith of the young Church of the Diocese of Grodno, which wants to build its life on God and with God!” says a message from Grodno.
Let us also pray for Belarus, a country with considerable challenges, so that prayer will strengthen the faith of our brothers and sisters during these difficult times!
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