In their Synodal Message, the bishops of the UGCC emphasize that the suffering of Ukrainians reveals the earthly journey of Christ in a new way. The bishops encourage everyone to discover the presence of Christ in our pilgrimage to full freedom from enslavement by the Russian evil empire, as experienced by the two disciples from Emmaus after the Resurrection of Jesus. The surest way to do this is to read the Scriptures daily and live by God’s Word.
”…let us take the Holy Scriptures in our hands!”
“Dearly beloved in Christ, let us be strengthened by the Word of God, for in it is the Spirit and life (cf. John 6:63), the source and pledge of our hope! When we hear the sirens, when we are being hit by streams of disheartening news from everywhere, when despondency, fear, and hopelessness surround us, let us take the Holy Scriptures in our hands, pour out our sorrows and pains before God, and together seek light and the necessary strength,” the message says.
“God is acting today!”
The Synod affirms that the power of God, like the life-giving breath of the resurrected Savior, revives us every time the Church proclaims the Gospel of Christ to modern man. Moreover, this proclamation (kerygma) makes the Lord’s action vividly present in our everyday life. This living word of the Good News of the Resurrection of Christ, God’s love for us, forgiveness of sins, and communion with eternal life is the communication to every believer of the very source of our hope and strength of Christian perseverance.
“It [the proclamation] informs us not of the past works of God, but of what He accomplishes for each of us personally today by the power and work of the Holy Spirit. When the enemy sows death and wants to imprison us in the kingdom of hopelessness and despair, the Church of Christ brings life and resurrection, hope for salvation to everyone who believes, and leads them to the communion of the Holy Sacraments,” the bishops note.
“Transmitting the faith to all those who have not yet come to know Christ is the core mission of all His disciples—our contemporaries.”
That is why, — the message goes on to say, — spreading this Word of the Gospel into all dimensions of our personal and social life, so that its power might permeate contemporary culture, and its light transfigure the way of human thinking and acting (evangelization), and transmitting the faith to all who have not yet come to know Christ, is the core mission of all His disciples — our contemporaries.
“Let our families be the first place where the treasure of faith is passed on…”
“We call on all the faithful of our Church to read God’s Word daily and meditate on it in parish bible apostolate communities. Let our families be the first place where the treasure of faith is passed on to new generations of Christians, where praying together and the reading of the Holy Scriptures are practiced, and where different generations strengthen one another through a witness of faith and through patient and faithful love,” UGCC bishops urge.
“God’s Word always leads to the partaking of the Holy Mysteries…”
However, let us remember that God’s Word always leads to the partaking of the Holy Mysteries and is fulfilled in the Liturgy of Christ’s Church in the same way that the hearts of the disciples burned on the way to Emmaus, when Jesus spoke to them on the way, but they could only recognize Him in the breaking of bread—in partaking of His life and resurrection in the Mystery of the Eucharist (Lk 24:35).
The UGCC Department for Information