Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See's Secretary of State, echoed the cry for peace of Pope Francis and the Ukrainian people when presiding over Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Berdychiv, Ukraine. The pilgrimage destination is one of the spiritual centers of the country's Catholic community. At the Mass, marked by evocative hymns and decorative arrangements in white and blue, the Cardinal received a warm welcome by all. Praying for the Blessed Mother's intercession, the faithful expressed their deep hope for the long-awaited gift of peace for a nation suffering in almost two and a half years of war. Cardinal Parolin reiterated that nothing is impossible for God and wished to reassure the people that the Pope is close to them and shares in their pain offering the Ukrainians "his paternal embrace."

Nothing is impossible for God

In his homily, delivered almost entirely in Ukrainian by Bishop Edward Kawa, auxiliary of the Latin Rite Archdiocese of Lviv, Cardinal Parolin recalled the memory of the first miracle that marked the history of this place of worship. It was in 1627, when Janusz Tyszkiewicz, the governor of the lands of Kyiv and Zhytomyr, was imprisoned in a battle against the Tartars. While bound in chains, he promised to do some good deed in honor of God and the Virgin Mary if he gained his freedom. While he was sleeping, some unknown friars appeared to him in prayer to God and Our Lady for his release.

Once he was freed, he decided to have a monastery built in Berdychiv for the religious he had seen in his dreams and whom he recognized in the Carmelites in Lublin three years later. The church was consecrated in 1642. The icon of Our Lady of the Snows, a copy of the one preserved in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, known as Salus Populi Romani, was placed on the high altar. The reproduction was donated by Tyszkiewicz himself, who had previously kept it with his family, and in 1647 it was declared miraculous by the then Bishop of Kyiv, who had been healed after praying before it.

May God convert hearts

Cardinal Parolin encouraged the Ukrainian Church to be "prophetic" with "unceasing prayer, so that God may convert the hearts of those who, having strayed from His ways and become slaves of their own pride, sow violence and death, trampling on the dignity of children of God in others." He urged that we pray to the Lord so that hearts of stone may become hearts of flesh.

Always trust in God

"Never lose trust and hope in God, especially today, when it seems that evil has the upper hand, when the horrors of war and the pain of the many victims and the massive destruction undermine faith in divine goodness, when our arms fall off and we no longer even have strength to pray," Cardinal Parolin emphasized in his homily. He encouraged looking upon the crucified Christ, on that Good Friday, when sin seemed to have triumphed, just then, the radiant dawn of Easter broke. Death will not have the last word, he emphasized, even if one struggles to see the horizon of the Resurrection.

Praying for the intercession of Our Lady

The last part of the Cardinal's homily focused on the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God who stands beside us in the midst of our personal crosses, and "gently accompanies us" towards the resurrection. In contemplating the icon of the Mother of God of Berdychiv, depicted as Odighítria, "she who leads," we see how she is a symbol of tenderness and love. "She is the herald of the dawn," of Jesus, who is the Light, Cardinal Parolin noted, and she is consolation in sadness, ready to offer a safe refuge. He  then offered closing prayers and an invocation. 

“O Blessed Mother, grant that children and young people may have a peaceful and sure future, that families may be places of love, that the elderly and the sick may receive comfort and relief in their suffering, that those defending their homeland may be protected from the attacks of evil, that prisoners of war may return to embrace their loved ones, and that the victims may be welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven."