Video-message of His Beatitude Sviatoslav. June 8. 105 th day of the war

Today is Wednesday, June 8, 2022. And Ukraine is already living the 105th day of Russian aggression. One hundred five days of this terrible bloody war.

But the Ukrainian soul, the Ukrainian force, is growing stronger, and victory is approaching.

Although the whole front line is on fire, our soldiers perform miracles of courage. Thanks to them, we saw the sunlight this morning. Our army continues to defend the Ukrainian region of Luhansk, breaking all possible predictions of military experts. Moreover, it is pushing back the enemy, although the main Russian attacking forces are concentrated there. Last night, the city of Kharkiv was again on fire due to nightly shelling. Border towns in the Sumy region were also shelled, and heavy fighting is raging in the south of our homeland, especially in the Kherson and Mykolayiv regions.

We learn that the situation is becoming critical for the civilian population of the Kherson region. It is almost impossible to help with humanitarian aid and bring food and medicine there. This territory is as isolated as Ukraine was during the Holodomor. To get out of this area or to deliver something becomes extremely difficult, and the enemy directly condemns many people to a slow death of hunger.

Therefore, I call on everyone to pray for our army, for the civilian population, which today is suffering severely in these circumstances of hostilities, especially from the brutality of the aggressor. But Ukraine stands and fights.

And today, we are already on the 6th day of the Mission Decade. That is to say, we are moving day by day towards the feast of the Coming of the Holy Spirit, and we are waiting for the arrival among us of the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the only One in whom we can hope. The One to whom we can tell all our worries, who will come to teach us all the truth. The Holy Gospel of the day, the Word of God, speaks to us of pain. The pain of a person can have different meanings through the power and action of the same Holy Spirit. Usually, human pain is associated with danger. Human pain as a signal to our body that things are not going well is a danger to our health and lives.

But today, the Word of God speaks to us of pain and hope. At the Last Supper, the Lord said to his disciples: "A woman (...) suffers because her hour has come. But when she does not remember her suffering, she is happy that a human being has come into the world”. Today Ukraine is crying and suffering. Ukraine is wounded. But we ask the Holy Spirit to transform our pain, our suffering, into the suffering of hope. May our struggle be genuinely prevalent in the hope of the birth of a renewed Ukraine. When we meet mothers, women who have lost loved ones in the war, we can hear from them the prayer that the sacrifice of their husbands, sons, and daughters was not in vain. When we meet our soldiers, especially the wounded, we feel that they are ready to bear their pain, to continue to suffer to save lives. The man of human life, who comes into the world in pain, who is renewed in these military sufferings, is what gives meaning to everything we live today. It is so important, say the mothers of our fallen heroes, that their children did not sacrifice their lives in vain.

On this day, we ask: O Holy Spirit, give us hope. Give us the joy of the encounter with this person, with the renewed person who is born in these pains. Please give us the joy of meeting this renewed Ukraine. And then we will forget all our sorrows and sufferings. And the joy that we will know will provide us with meaning to all the sufferings we have endured for our future.

Today we pray on this day of the Decade of Missionary Work for children. For the children whose parents are ready to make great sacrifices to ensure them a better future. May this maternal and paternal sacrifice become a joy for their children, in the joy and hope of a better future.

O God, bless Ukraine. O God, bless the Ukrainian children. O God, bless the Ukrainian army, which protects and creates the hope of a better future for our Ukrainian people. O God, bless all those who suffer with us, who suffer the pain of the Ukrainian people. And give us the joy of meeting, the joy of living, that Man for Whom it is worth living and dying.

May the blessing of the Lord be upon you with His grace and love for humanity forever and ever. Amen

Glory to Our Lord Jesus Christ!

 + Sviatoslav