For any of us it is difficult to even imagine what a thousand consecutive days of war mean, the ones that Ukrainians have been carrying since Russia began an unjustifiable invasion that has sown pain and uncertainty in that country, but has not managed to break the hope of most of its population. That is why it is important to take into consideration the experience of this people, an experience in which the factor of Christian faith is being decisive, something that most of the chronicles do not reveal. In a recent interview, the major archbishop of the Greek Catholic Church, Sviatoslav Sevchuck, recognizes that “every day we see with our eyes the terrible face of death and destruction,” he says, however, in view of how we have lived these thousand days, the feeling prevails, indeed, the virtue of hope, because without hope today it is impossible to continue living in Ukraine. And to describe it he speaks of something very close to the ground: “when we see how energy infrastructure workers, after a missile attack, start over and after a few hours repair the damage, when we see our doctors who Despite the dangers, they help to get people out of the destroyed houses, to save lives, so we see that, along with the pain, there is hope.” Archbishop Sevchuck says that the war has made all the masks fall and has revealed the greatness and also the weakness of the human being, and points out that when you see your house shake and hear the horrible roar of the bombs, it is as if you were in a spiritual night and you cried: “Lord, where are you, why have you abandoned me?” » It is then that this God who seemed to have been obscured becomes present, and the fact is that the Church today in Ukraine is witnessing a phenomenon of profound conversion. In the midst of extreme pain and vulnerability, it becomes clear that “the word of the Gospel is truly life, it is capable of bringing the power of God, hope, the ability to renew our human and spiritual resources.” And as if sensing our skepticism, he adds: “this is not a nice phrase or a metaphor: with my own eyes I have seen that, when I proclaimed the word of God, this word literally gave life to people, a miracle!” I recently heard from a friend, witness to the drama of the invasion of Ukraine, that “we cannot put our hope in victory, in the homeland, or in the desired peace… but only in the awareness that we have found a greater love.” than evil, a presence that is the meaning of the world. That a part of Ukrainian society treasures this awareness is, surely, the key to a resistance that still astonishes us, and that has nothing to do with nationalist fanaticism.
#José #Luis #Restan #Ukraine #sustains #hope
