The Ukrainian bishops asked the Catholic faithful to pray to God for peace through prayer, penance, and fasting in Lent, a few days after a year of the war. The Lent begins on 22 February, Ash Wednesday.
The bishops encouraged the faithful to “undertake the path of prayer, renewal, and repentance. The road to restoring peace to Ukraine, and to our hearts, will not be easy, but it will be redemptive for all of us.”
On 24 February, Friday marks one year since the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army. On that day the Ukrainian Church decided to hold a day for fasting for peace.
That day a Mass will be celebrated at the Shrine of Our Lady of Berdychiv, which will be presided over by the Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine, Msgr. Visvaldas Kulbokas. The bishops ask the faithful who cannot attend to pray for peace in their homes and in their communities.
The Ukrainian prelates asked Catholics to fast on bread and water every Wednesday and Friday of Lent. “We believe that our Heavenly Father will listen to the sincere prayer that we offer with one mind and perseverance,” they stressed.
The bishops also recalled Lent 2022, in which with the Russian invasion, “perhaps for the first time in decades, we did not need the invitation to pray and perform acts of mercy.”
The message specifies that the situation has changed since then.
“In addition to the achievements of the Ukrainian people and the Church, to which the whole conscious world refers, we have better understood the power of prayer and the need for a pure heart,” the bishops explained.
They also recalled the consecration of Russia and Ukraine that Pope Francis made to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on March 25, 2022.
“A week later, the invading forces withdrew from the northern part of Ukraine,” they noted.