“Christ Himself wants to become a source of sustenance for the suffering Ukrainian people”: Head of the UGCC on the Feast of the Holy Eucharist
Today, in a special way, through the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, the Savior becomes true sustenance, real life for Ukrainian soldiers who receive communion from our chaplains and the wounded in hospitals who seek the fullness of healing and true life.
And it is so important for our Church on this day to understand that in the circumstances of war, we must give our people something more than food packages, more than earthly bread.
We will fully accomplish our mission when we feed our wounded people with the bread of heaven — the Body and Blood of our Savior, stated the Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, during a sermon on the Feast of Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
First, His Beatitude Sviatoslav noted that on this holiday, the Church draws all our attention to the greatest gift of Pentecost, which the Holy Spirit gives to God’s people every day — the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Savior.
The archbishop emphasized that Christ, the Word of God, not only became flesh, taking on human nature, but also became true, real food. Christ said: “I am the real food. And my blood is the real drink.”
On the feast of the Holy Eucharist, His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasized that we are spiritually inept in fighting our sins, weaknesses, and vices and cannot overcome evil without being partakers of the true sustenance — the Body and Blood of our Savior: “For our present, for our spiritual life, the Sacrament of the Eucharist is its source and apex. The Sacrament of the Eucharist is the source of all Christian life.”
“In the most difficult moments of the history of the Church of Christ, in the greatest moments of a personal trial of every Christian, which sometimes the mystics of the Church of Christ describe as darkness or desert, the Sacrament of the Eucharist is the Sacrament of the presence of God among us; the Sacrament of the presence of the One for whom we seek when we are in distress; the Sacrament of the presence of the One for whom we cry out: ‘God, where are You?’ when Russian missiles or Russian drones rain on us every night. Christ is present among us today in the Sacrament of Body and Blood, in His Body and His Blood,” the Primate emphasized.
Analysts estimate that in the coming months, millions of Ukrainians will search for food — food security will be one of the most critical aspects of the nation’s survival.
“The best way to celebrate this Sacrament today is to feed the thirsty, hungry Ukrainian people with heavenly bread. For Christ said: ‘Whoever eats my body and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.’ We ask that today no one in Ukraine will lack this heavenly bread,” concluded the Head of the UGCC.
The UGCC Department for Information
