• Yesterday we received one piece of nice, good news. 108 Ukrainian women
were released from Russian captivity! We thank the Lord God for these
saved mothers and women, for the fact that they can return to their
native homes, to their native family. But today, let's all surround
those women with our attention, love, and prayer. Let's warm them with
the warmth of our whole nation. Because the facts of violence against
women in Russian captivity, which they recount, just break the heart and
make the blood boil in our veins.
[Text: English]
(Chiesa greco-cattolica ucraina, Segretariato dell’Arcivescovo Maggiore, Roma)
18 ottobre 2022
Video
(Chiesa greco-cattolica ucraina, Segretariato dell’Arcivescovo Maggiore, Roma)
18 ottobre 2022
Video
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
Today is Tuesday 18 October 2022 and for the 237th day, the Ukrainian people have been standing in an unequal but indomitable battle, defending their freedom and independence in the bloody war started by the Russian aggressor against our Motherland.
Yesterday and last night in Ukraine were once again a day of Russian terrorism. The enemy launched 10 missile strikes on the territory of our Motherland, 58 airstrikes, and 60 shellings from jet systems of various types. 35 settlements of Ukraine, our cities and villages, were affected. And most of all yesterday afternoon and this night Ukraine suffered from these so-called kamikaze drones.
Yesterday, our Kyiv was badly affected. In the centre of the city, in the Shevchenkiv district, these drones were struck and at least four people were killed. And among them was one pregnant woman who died embracing together with her husband. There were also strikes on Odesa and Dnipro. Last night, our long-suffering Mykolayiv was shelled twice. At this moment, there is a confirmed death of at least one person.
But Ukraine is standing! Ukraine is fighting! Ukraine is praying!
These days, you and I direct our attention and our prayers to the Ukrainian family, to this inseparable, fruitful, faithful union of love between a man and a woman. The Lord God intended that the Ukrainian family, the family of any people or nation, should be an oasis of love. Because love gives life and love is necessary for the growth and development of the human person. But in the conditions of war, we see that the family, as an oasis of love, finds itself in a sea of violence, in a sea of malice that destroys a person.
The violence, the mass murders that we see today in Ukraine, they are simply incredible. But one of the features of this war—which will probably go down in history as a war of particular violence against the intimate sphere of a person—will be characterized by a certain weapon that Russia uses against Ukraine: sexuality is being used as a weapon, as a tool for contempt and humiliation of the human person. We have a large number of horrific cases of mass rape. We have cases where girls and women became pregnant from their abusers. One can only imagine how much this violence against the intimate sphere of a person hurts the Ukrainian family, how much it hurts the dignity of men and women. It destroys what the Lord God created for love.
Today, we are obliged to do everything to ensure that the family is free from violence. If the family, as an oasis of life and love, is not protected from all kinds of violence, then, apparently, it will not stand. Let's do everything together so that our men and women love each other, and the Russian occupier never invades the Ukrainian family with terrible grimace of violence.
Yesterday we received one piece of nice, good news. 108 Ukrainian women were released from Russian captivity! We thank the Lord God for these saved mothers and women, for the fact that they can return to their native homes, to their native family. But today, let's all surround those women with our attention, love, and prayer. Let's warm them with the warmth of our whole nation. Because the facts of violence against women in Russian captivity, which they recount, just break the heart and make the blood boil in our veins.
O God, You are a God of love, You are a God of mercy. By the power of Your love, help us defeat evil and violence in the midst of this war! O God, look with a special eye upon the Ukrainian family, protect this oasis of life and love that You created for human happiness! O God, bless the Ukrainian family! O God, bless the Ukrainian soldiers, girls and boys, who are doing everything today to expel the war and its carriers from our Motherland! O God, bless Ukraine with Your just peace!
May the blessing of the Lord be upon you through His grace and love of mankind, always, now and ever, and for ages of ages. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
Today is Tuesday 18 October 2022 and for the 237th day, the Ukrainian people have been standing in an unequal but indomitable battle, defending their freedom and independence in the bloody war started by the Russian aggressor against our Motherland.
Yesterday and last night in Ukraine were once again a day of Russian terrorism. The enemy launched 10 missile strikes on the territory of our Motherland, 58 airstrikes, and 60 shellings from jet systems of various types. 35 settlements of Ukraine, our cities and villages, were affected. And most of all yesterday afternoon and this night Ukraine suffered from these so-called kamikaze drones.
Yesterday, our Kyiv was badly affected. In the centre of the city, in the Shevchenkiv district, these drones were struck and at least four people were killed. And among them was one pregnant woman who died embracing together with her husband. There were also strikes on Odesa and Dnipro. Last night, our long-suffering Mykolayiv was shelled twice. At this moment, there is a confirmed death of at least one person.
But Ukraine is standing! Ukraine is fighting! Ukraine is praying!
These days, you and I direct our attention and our prayers to the Ukrainian family, to this inseparable, fruitful, faithful union of love between a man and a woman. The Lord God intended that the Ukrainian family, the family of any people or nation, should be an oasis of love. Because love gives life and love is necessary for the growth and development of the human person. But in the conditions of war, we see that the family, as an oasis of love, finds itself in a sea of violence, in a sea of malice that destroys a person.
The violence, the mass murders that we see today in Ukraine, they are simply incredible. But one of the features of this war—which will probably go down in history as a war of particular violence against the intimate sphere of a person—will be characterized by a certain weapon that Russia uses against Ukraine: sexuality is being used as a weapon, as a tool for contempt and humiliation of the human person. We have a large number of horrific cases of mass rape. We have cases where girls and women became pregnant from their abusers. One can only imagine how much this violence against the intimate sphere of a person hurts the Ukrainian family, how much it hurts the dignity of men and women. It destroys what the Lord God created for love.
Today, we are obliged to do everything to ensure that the family is free from violence. If the family, as an oasis of life and love, is not protected from all kinds of violence, then, apparently, it will not stand. Let's do everything together so that our men and women love each other, and the Russian occupier never invades the Ukrainian family with terrible grimace of violence.
Yesterday we received one piece of nice, good news. 108 Ukrainian women were released from Russian captivity! We thank the Lord God for these saved mothers and women, for the fact that they can return to their native homes, to their native family. But today, let's all surround those women with our attention, love, and prayer. Let's warm them with the warmth of our whole nation. Because the facts of violence against women in Russian captivity, which they recount, just break the heart and make the blood boil in our veins.
O God, You are a God of love, You are a God of mercy. By the power of Your love, help us defeat evil and violence in the midst of this war! O God, look with a special eye upon the Ukrainian family, protect this oasis of life and love that You created for human happiness! O God, bless the Ukrainian family! O God, bless the Ukrainian soldiers, girls and boys, who are doing everything today to expel the war and its carriers from our Motherland! O God, bless Ukraine with Your just peace!
May the blessing of the Lord be upon you through His grace and love of mankind, always, now and ever, and for ages of ages. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ!
