Lent is a time of conversion, prayer, and concrete acts of love. This year's "Lenten Alms for Missions" is an invitation to show solidarity with those who live in places where hunger, disease, lack of medical care, and the effects of natural disasters are part of everyday life.
Olsztyn, January 26, 2026
Praised be Jesus Christ!
Through the ministry of the Church, God gives us three reliable means for living Lent well. The first is fasting - it can apply to sweets, alcohol, or the media. Its purpose is to deny ourselves something that gives us pleasure in order to invite God into this "place of absence" and feel the hunger to encounter Him. And encountering God means prayer. And finally, there is almsgiving. It would be good if it were related to fasting, for example, when we give the money saved by limiting our food to someone who is poor.
During this year's edition of "Lenten Alms for Missions," we will be collecting money for three missionary causes. The first is the reconstruction of a church destroyed by Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica. On October 30, 2025, I received the following message from missionary Father Piotr Sierzchuła: "God bless you! Savanna-La-Mar is very badly damaged. I have no church - it collapsed completely. Many families, especially in poorer neighborhoods, have lost their homes. The roads are blocked and gas stations are closed." We quickly organized a humanitarian aid campaign to raise funds to purchase food and clothing for people who lost everything in the disaster. The missionary also provided financial support to several families to rebuild their wooden houses. However, rebuilding the church will have to wait. It will cost at least PLN 2,000,000. Financial assistance has been pledged by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and local parishioners, of whom there are only 300. We hope that with our combined efforts, the House of God will be rebuilt.
Another missionary project we want to support during Lent is feeding children in a hospital run by the Ursuline Sisters of the Roman Union in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. "Forty percent of Senegalese live in extreme poverty, on less than two dollars a day, or about seven zlotys. A huge problem we face is polygamy. Islam, which is the dominant religion here, allows a man to have up to four wives, but if a wealthy man wants to have more, he sends the unwanted woman back to her family home. Of course, it is the children who suffer the most, as a result of which they experience hunger and diseases resulting from malnutrition!" says Sister Ksawera Michalska OSU. "I want to tell the story of one of the girls, Astu, whom we managed to save from starvation. Her mother died in childbirth. Astu was born into a farming family of 21 people, as her father had three wives. When the child's mother died, the other wives did not want to take care of her, so her father gave her to her grandparents to raise. The grandmother, the mother of the deceased, then a 61-year-old woman, did not work and did not have the means to buy layette and milk for the newborn. When she found out about our Mother and Child Center, she came to us with little Astu. For two years, the child received free assistance - not only in the form of food, but also medical care. If it weren't for the Center, the girl would not have had a chance to survive. The cost of daily meals for our malnourished children is PLN 3.5.
The last of our aid goals is the expansion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Mission Hospital in Katondwe, Zambia, run by the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of Mary (Old Age). "The local population lives in difficult conditions. Most live in small, thatched mud huts. Tin roofs are rare and considered a luxury. During the pre-harvest period, many families suffer from hunger. Most households have no access to electricity or running water," says missionary Sister Krystyna Matusz ABMV. "Every year, we provide assistance to 15,000 patients in the outpatient clinic, hospitalize 6,000 patients, and deliver as many as 1,000 babies! We receive a monthly subsidy of PLN 12,000 from the Ministry of Health... With such a budget, we have no chance of developing. Every year, the ministry sends doctors to work for us, but they often leave quickly because our hospital is located in the countryside, where there are no apartments to rent, and we ourselves do not have such premises. Therefore, I humbly ask you to help us build four apartments that will serve the medical staff. The cost of this investment is PLN 301,000," concludes Sister Krystyna.
I warmly encourage you to join the "Lenten Alms for Missions" campaign, which provides concrete help to Polish missionaries who bring the Gospel and relief to people suffering in various corners of the world.
With the gift of prayer +
Deputy Secretary of for Foreign Missions
of the Priests of the Sacred Heart in Poland
Fr. Piotr Chmielecki SCJ
