In both the Roman and Byzantine liturgical calendars, Lent 2022 has coincided with a brutal war in Ukraine. That war was launched by Russia’s Vladimir Putin for an ignoble, imperial cause. It has been conducted by the Russian military in a manner that recalls the barbarism of the Romans who crucified 6,000 slaves along the Appian Way after the Spartacus revolt. It’s an old story. Tyrants cannot tolerate the truth about their tyranny; they terrorize in order to break the spirit of those who seek freedom.
In the third week of the war, Latin-rite Catholics read a passage from St. Augustine’s commentary on Psalm 140 that would surely ring true in the hearts of our eastern Christian brethren in Ukraine, both Greek Catholic and Orthodox:
“Lord, I have cried to you, hear me.” This is a prayer we can all say. This is not my prayer, but that of the whole Christ. Rather, it is said in the name of his body. When Christ was on earth he prayed in his human nature and prayed to the Father in the name of his body; and when he prayed, drops of blood fell from his whole body. So it is written in the Gospel: “Jesus prayed with earnest prayer, and sweated blood.” What is this blood streaming from his whole body but the martyrdom of the whole Church?
Blood has been streaming from Christ’s body, the Church in Ukraine, for eight weeks now. It has poured from the bodies of men, women and children. Ukrainian patriots have fallen in defense of their homeland; Russian soldiers have fallen for reasons they could not comprehend, because their superiors lied to them about their mission. The bloody wounds that have been inflicted on the Body of Christ in this war call to mind the Lord’s scourging; the mindless cruelties inflicted on civilians remind us of his crowning with thorns by sadists. With Christ, the Ukrainian people, who ask only to be themselves, have walked the bloody path to Calvary, where those who inflict their suffering mock their claims to be who they are.
Ukraine’s wounds, especially in the city of Mariupol’, brings to mind a reflection by another Doctor of the Church, St. Bernard of Clairvaux. The city’s name honors the Blessed Virgin Mary as depicted in the Hodegetria icon. The wanton destruction of a Marian-named city by Russian forces – including the kidnapping of residents and their deportation to Russia — has been a poignant reminder of why St. Bernard taught the Church that Our Lady is a martyr:
The martyrdom of the Virgin is set forth both in the prophecy of Simeon and in the actual story of our Lord’s passion. The holy old man said of the infant Jesus, “He has been established as a sign which will be contradicted.” He went on to say to Mary, “And your own heart will be pierced by a sword….”
The above comes from an April 13 posting by George Weigel in Catholic World Report.
I was struck by the part of the article itself which states, “Major-Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and other true men of God have proclaimed the saving truth that Easter follows Calvary. Thus we can carry our crosses, however bloody, in the sure knowledge that Christ’s victory is ours if we remain faithful to his cause. As Major-Archbishop Shevchuk, named on a Russian assassination list, put it with simple eloquence, in the “baptismal waters of the Dnipro River” those faithful became “the body of the Risen Christ, over which death has no power.”
In addition to the naked aggression and inhumanity of Russian military forces, we should never forget that the Russian (and previously Soviet) government has always persecuted the Catholic Church, both Greek and Latin. May God protect His Eminence and all the clergy, religious and lay faithful of Ukraine.
Lord, have mercy! Most Holy Theotokos, pray for us, but most especially at this time, your children in Ukraine.
Mariuple is Mary’s holy city where 80 of 106 health facilities were damaged or destroyed by invading Russians. Mary does not ask revenge as that is not possible but prays for a just peace and return I am sure of her Holy City Mariuple to the rightful society of freedom loving Ukrainians.