Fast and Pray for Ukraine
Pope Francis has asked that this Ash Wednesday be a day of fasting and prayer for peace. Through fasting, we are asked to pray for conversion from the violence, death and danger to all of a devastating war that Russia has inflicted on its neighboring country, Ukraine. With Ukraine outmanned and outgunned, the conflict is reminiscent of the battle of David against Goliath (1 Sam. 17). But in the 21st century, where nuclear arsenals today are already being placed on alert status, the Russia-Ukraine conflict endangers all of human civilization and all of our common home.
Our fast and prayer are to implore the Lord of hosts to liberate us from true evil: “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Cf. Eph. 6: 10-20).
The sovereign Ukraine suffers from the aggression of the bullying, invading superpower, Russia. From its devastation, women and children flee. Against its missiles, tanks, and attack helicopters, the male citizens and leaders of Ukraine defend their country with but rifles and Molotov cocktails. The western powers support them with declared solidarity and super sanctions. But they do not enter into the military fray.
Russia on the other hand decries the threat to its national security of a Ukraine attracted to the liberal democracy of the European Union; it fears its declared intentions of joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); it views NATO’s recent expansion eastward as aggression. It intends to stop this aggression by making sure that Ukraine is pulled back into the pro-Russian sphere. Even if it must force this militarily.
In our university, where we pray to participate in the Father’s work of reconciliation of human beings with other human beings, let us fast and pray that negotiations conquer violence, that peace conquers war. Let us fast and pray in solidarity with humanity’s quest for peace not only in Ukraine, but closer to home also in Myanmar, where the oppression of the military against the democracy-loving people of Myanmar continues to weigh heavy on our conscience. In our country, let us fast and pray for a peace, where each individual is respected by State authority and each individual cooperates with the State towards common goals. Let us fast and pray for peace: for fraternity between all religions who recognize peace as the gift of the one God, for a just economic order, for liberation from exclusion and coercion, and for personal conversion from sin, the root of all war.
Certain demons, Jesus teaches, can only be exorcized by prayer and fasting (cf. Mk 9:29).
