“We came to our Mother to bring her our pain”: All-Ukrainian pilgrimage begins in Zarvanytsia
Just as a child looks for his mother when it hurts, we, as a Church and nation, have come to our Heavenly Mother to bring her our pain. With these words, on Saturday evening, July 15, the Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, addressed the pilgrims in Zarvanytsia. This year’s All-Ukrainian pilgrimage began with a Moleben to the Blessed Virgin Mary, which the Head of the Church presided over in concelebration with many bishops and priests on the square before the basilica.
“This war pains us so much: we do not know the number of casualties yet, but we know that there are tens of thousands of wounded, thousands of missing. Today we came to Zarvanytsia, to our Mother, to bring her our pain, our tears. And here, in Zarvanytsia, She embraces us all,” said the Primate.
The Head of the UGCC thanked the numerous pilgrims for coming to Zarvanytsia to pray for both the living and those who are “already there in heaven, participating in this pilgrimage – our young girls and boys, heroes whom we have to bury in the Ukrainian land every day.” His Beatitude Sviatoslav thanked the faithful for their prayers for the Ukrainian army and the mercy extended to their compatriots affected by the war.
“We pray for a just peace for Ukraine, for our glorious victory of good over evil,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav, “It turns out that war is unfolded by an evil person who then becomes its slave. Like an evil spirit, war slides out of the control of the one who starts it. But peace comes from God. God puts an end to sin and even death. He puts an end to war. And we are here today to ask God for this through the intercession of our Heavenly Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary: Mother of God, ask your Son to end this dreadful tragedy and the pain of our people!”“We should be certain now that the logic of God’s peace is stronger than the logic of human rage and war,” assured the Head of the UGCC.
This year’s pilgrimage to Zarvanytsia was attended by special guests – Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine Visvaldas Kulbokas and Américo Manuel Alves Aguiar, Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon and President of the WYD Lisbon 2023 Foundation.
Thanking the nuncio for his presence, His Beatitude Sviatoslav told the pilgrims: “He is a man who deserves national honor. We lived with him through the most severe first days of the war in Kyiv. I saw him collecting Russian bullets in the courtyard of the nunciature. He did not flee Kyiv like other diplomats. He was with us. He is with us. And we know that he is the voice of Ukraine before Pope Francis and the entire Catholic world. Dear brother, here, in the face of God’s people, I thank you.”
His Beatitude Sviatoslav also thanked the bishops of the UGCC from all over Ukraine and overseas who came to Zarvanytsia on this pilgrimage.
