The Head of the UGCC in Krylos: "To see the living God, who is among us, we must believe and open our hearts..."

 This was said to the pilgrims in Krylos (Halych) in Ivano-Frankivsk region by the Father and Head of the UGCC his Beatitude Sviatoslav during the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy on August 7.

"The key to success, to healing is faith, - emphasized the Head of the Church in his homily. -  To explain and show faith, Christ reveals to us that as eyes or ears are receptors able to receive  light and sound of this  visible world, in the same way faith  is a means of vision and listening to what is invisible."  For in order to see, we have to open eyes, similarly, to see the living God who is among us, we must believe and open our hearts.  Then God's grace will come there.  Because the one who doesn't want to see, will not see, the one who doesn't want to hear, will not hear, regardless of how many times God's Word and the Church's teaching would appeal to him. 

According to the preacher, in the Gospel God asks today our whole Church which has brought to the God's  Throne pains, sufferings and tears of its people:  "Do you believe that I can do it?" "We must be open to receive what God wants to give us in this Year of God's Grace. Let's ask Him to heal our blindness and open our ears for Him. For His pains and sufferings are our pains and sufferings, and our pains and sufferings are His pains and sufferings," pointed out his Beatitude Sviatoslav.  That is why the Pope Francis, meeting the youth from the whole world last Sunday, while answering the boys' and girls' question "Where is God when a person is suffering?"  said the following words: " Our merciful God is suffering in him."  For He is closer to us than we are to ourselves. He understands all of our needs  more deeply than we can see, understand and realize. So we can say that our Savior Himself "is suffering today in the body of the  afflicted Ukrainian people so He can be bestow on us His God's grace."

The Primate of the UGCC reminded about God's signs of His presence among us, through which we can receive God's grace, particularly at this pilgrimage: "These are the open Doors of God's grace, which we can enter, the  Sacrament of Penance, when God forgives our sins and heals our mental and physical wounds. So we can say that we are not alone on our life path because God is walking with  us. But we must believe in it."

"We venerate our Lady here and pray to Her, - went on the preacher. - And She was the first who saw the living embodied God in Her Son and  the first who heard from the Archangel Gabriel that God would come to people. Let us entrust our needs to our Heavenly Mother, who is present here in a visible way through the ancient miraculous icon; let us ask for the gift of faith - and we will have the key to God's proximity, which is our faith."

It is  worth noting that the Head of the UGCC was joined in the Liturgy by: Bishop Volodymyr (Vijtyshyn), Archbishop and Metropolitan  of Ivano- Frankivsk; Bishop Ihor (Voznyak), Archbishop and Metropolitan of Lviv; Bishop Vasyl (Semenyuk), Archbishop and Metropolitan of Ternopil-Zboriv;  Bishop Bohdan (Dziurakh), the Secretary of the UGCC Synod of Bishops; Bishop Vasyl (Ivasyuk), Eparch of Kolomyya- Chernivtsi; Bishop Teodor (Martynyuk), Auxiliary Bishop of Ternopil-Zboriv;  and Bishop Josaphat (Moshchych), Auxiliary Bishop of Ivano-Frankivsk.

We also would like to remind you that on August 6-7 there took place the All-Ukrainian Patriarchal Pilgrimage to the Galician miraculous icon of our Lady, the Patroness of the Galician land, in the village of Krylos (ancient Halych).

Photo by press-service of Ivano-Frankivsk Archeparchy

The UGCC Department of Information