On the 3rd day of the Decade of Mission days, let us reflect on the theme “God is with us – we are God’s!”

A reading of the Holy Gospel according to St. John 17, 1-11

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,  “Father, the hour has come; glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify thee, since thou hast given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom thou hast given him. And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. I glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the work which thou gavest me to do; and now, Father, glorify thou me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made. “I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them to me, and they have kept thy word. Now they know that everything that thou hast given me is from thee; for I have given them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from thee; and they have believed that thou didst send me. I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine; all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.

God never leaves His children. When the Son of God became an infant, in the first months of his life he became a forced migrant and refugee in foreign lands. He voluntarily assumed refugee status to show solidarity with all those who had to flee the horrors of war, save their lives and leave their homes to seek refuge in safer lands. God understands man even when it seems to man that everyone has turned away from him. He shows man that his best homeland is His Kingdom, a Home in which there is enough room for every child of God.

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God will restore justice to every offended person. He will punish the wicked, and will reward the righteous. The Son of God called blessed those who weep, for He wipes away their tears and comforts them. Through forced relocation, God also gives an internal mission, namely that every refugee has the opportunity to learn something new in another region of Ukraine in Transcarpathia, Lviv, Volyn, or a country in Poland, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom or Australia.

Ukrainians often realize their Ukrainianness when they go abroad. And we need to change our mentality, learn to appreciate the gifts that different countries give us, opening their homes to us, providing us with humanitarian, financial and military assistance. We are experiencing a time of solidarity and mutual responsibility for the fate of our peoples. But the time is coming when the Ukrainian state will be reborn and renewed. And then you can return to Ukraine to rebuild your home, multiply your family and develop your homeland.

Let us pray for those who lost their home, property and forced to leave Ukraine, fleeing the war, and to strengthen in them the hope and confidence of their future in the hands of God:

Our Father…

Rejoice Mother of God…

Glory be to the Father…