From the Head of the UGCC on the 294th day of the war: “Empathizing is one of the principal sources of an authentic experience of understanding”
The Holy Scriptures teach us that God can be recognized only through experience, experiencing a personal encounter with Him. In the same way, it is possible to get to know a person and what Ukrainian society lives by today only when we empathize with current circumstances and events. The Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, said in his daily address on the 294th day of the war.
“To be young means to learn, to discover the world and the person living in the world,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav. He noted that in the face of war, we cannot be a Church that does not cry over the tragedies our young people are experiencing today.
“The worst that can happen is using the current ‘recipe’ of the secular spirit, which consists of numbing young people’s conscience with news, entertainment, or platitude. If we do not dare to cry with those suffering in the circumstances of war, then we will not be able to be a society, a mother Church that gives birth to new life. The future is born in a new experience,” the Patriarch emphasized.
“To believe is to penetrate the depths of reality. Saint Augustine used to say: ‘Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.’ Therefore, our youth today must be empathetic and empathize with their people. Indeed, some realities can only be seen with eyes that have been washed with tears,” said the archbishop.
He wished the wise, kind Ukrainian youth would feel that society empathizes with them. “The Son of God, Jesus Christ — God who became a man today sympathizes with our Ukrainian youth: he cries with those who weep and suffers with those who suffer. But, concurrently, He is the source of our joy. We know that the Lord will wipe away our tears and give our youth the triumph of victory and the power of good,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav assured.
The UGCC Department for Information
