Head of the UGCC to the youth on the 359th day of the war: Don’t be afraid to respond to the vocation to a brave lifestyle of the Christian perfection
As one of our spiritual fathers once said, the Church needs spiritual cavalry, which would not be restrained by any earthly ties but could come immediately to serve where there is the greatest need, particularly in the current dramatic circumstances of war, the Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, stated in his daily address on the 359th day of the war.
On this day, His Beatitude Sviatoslav reflected on the monastic vocation. “A monk or nun is a person who belongs only to God. Consecrated persons exhibit this affiliation, self-sacrifice to the only God in this earthly life through the fulfillment of the three Evangelical counsels, or three vows made to the Lord: a life of chastity (virginity), voluntary poverty, and complete obedience to God’s will, which He manifests through the service of His Church,” said the hierarch.
Among the signs of a vocation to monasticism, he accentuated a love of prayer, lack of worldly ambitions (careerism), humility in everyday life, and complete dedication to serving God and his neighbor. According to the patriarch, the vocation to monasticism is much rarer than marriage, but it is inherently close to it. It is a vocation to a community of consecrated persons who grow in love for God.
“Consecrated persons often confront the modern world because they are always ahead of the times, going against the tide of specific human preferences, ideologies, or philosophies. Having died for this world and already living in the resurrection, the consecrated persons show us how we will live in the Kingdom of Heaven after death, where, as Christ says, they neither marry nor get married but live like angels of God, contemplating God’s face every day and serving each other and every person in love,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav. He then asked the faithful to pray for good vocations to the monastic life.
The UGCC Department for Information
