On the last Saturday before the feast of All Saints, 29^th October, an evening was organised at the “Saint Thomas Aquinas” Dominican Institute of Religious Sciences in Kyiv.  Both students and their friends were invited to celebrate “Holywins”, with integration games, by dressing up as a saint or holy person from any Christian confession and with a thanksgiving prayer at the end of the evening.

The organizational team consisted of the Dominican Piotr Oktaba, the sisters of the Missionary Association Servants of the Gospel of God's Mercy and students from the Institute.

About 40 people took part. In the middle of all the fun, while we were dancing and playing “Pope Francis” suddenly appeared. He had escaped from the Vatican to attend this interesting inter-confessional evening and to everyone's surprse he was invited to form part of the jury together with Fr Oktaba and two volunteers to decide on the winners of the fancy dress competition.

The party was presented by Saint Olga of Kiev, Saint Edith Stein and Saint Hedwig I of Poland.

Saint Natalie of Constantinople, Saint Thomas More, Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin of Mexico, Saint John Paul II, and Saint José María Escrivá de Balaguer of Spain, also participated. Everybody received a certificate: for the simplest costume, the most authentic, the most elegant…Pope Francis himself was nominated even though he didn't take part in the competition for the most elaborate and time-consuming costume.

After the fun and a tea and biscuit break, we went to the chapel for a time of thanksgiving. Through songs of praise and Taize antiphons we entered into an atmosphere of gratitude, where everybody could express their thanks. Fr Oktaba gave us a short talk on holiness. He reminded us that we're all called to be holy through our small daily acts and our trust in Jesus. We finished our vigil with community prayers where we prayed for the situations in the world where holiness is most needed. We went back home renewed and with the desire to meet up again on another occasion.

 

Thank you everyone for participating!