From the Head of the UGCC in Univ on Assumption Day: I came here to thank the Holy Mother of God for saving my life
We have gathered here to give thanks that after half a year of war, we are alive. We can be together and live to pray for victory and to understand that the spiritual greatness of our people is rooted in God's generosity. The Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, emphasized during a homily in Univ Holy Dormition Lavra of the Studite Rite on the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav noted that God's word, which the Lord speaks today, tells us about God's infinite and incomprehensible mercy to man. According to the Hierarch this parable shows that the Lord tries to explain the differences between the logic He is guided concerning man and logics which people use to settle scores.
Commenting on the passage of the Gospel, the preacher noted that we hear today rather strange things, how the master forgives the debtor his hugest debt, while the debtor himself throws his servant into prison for a debt that can be returned. “This story is not about money. This parable is about the generosity of God and the cowardice of man. God's immeasurable mercy saves you, your children, and your family from death. God's mercy can forgive much more than man can owe you,” the Archbishop is assured.
“We tend to think the Lord does not want to give us something. The problem is with us because we often cannot accept it. He who forgives grows in soul and heart. Generosity saves. Man is called to be the image and likeness of God's mercy,” the Head of the Church emphasized.
Listening to this word about the generosity of God, we celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The most generous person on earth was the Mother of God because she gave everything she was to God. She gave so much that God was able to dwell and begotten in her. The Holy Mother of God became a source of life and mercy for all people.
“Today, the Holy Mother of God is saving us all from death with her prayers,” the Head of the Church emphasized and assured that the Holy Mother of God is now asking: “Be like me. Be generous with God, and God will be generous with you. Be generous to one another so that nothing is lost and everything is gained. You will be able to overcome death and rest in the arms of the Divine Son during your earthly life.”
Addressing the faithful, His Beatitude Sviatoslav said: “I came here to thank you for saving my life.” It is a miracle that I am alive among you today. Hard to describe what happened in Kyiv six months ago. It is a miracle that we are alive. The fact that our capital has withstood, we now feel as a special prayer of the intercession of the Most Pure Virgin Mary.”
The Father and Head of the UGCC is convinced that we are winning and will win owing to the generosity of Ukrainians. The soldiers generously gave everything at the cost of their own lives to save Ukraine. We saw doctors who performed complex operations under bombs. They risked their lives to save someone else’s life.
“Today we ask Mother of God, You who are passing from earth to heaven this day, pray for us because, with Your prayers, You save our souls from death. With your motherly care, protect all those who face death: our soldiers at the front, wounded, prisoners.
Embrace with Your motherly love those who find themselves in the temporarily occupied territories. Make us generous towards those who left their homes and seek our mercy today. Mother of God, under Your protection, Ukraine is invincible because You save our souls from death with your prayers,” asked the spiritual leader of Ukrainians.
The UGCC Department for Information
