By Jay Sorgi • Posted February 21, 2025

As Ukraine marks three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, Ukrainians living in the Philadelphia region joined the leader of the worldwide Ukrainian Catholic Church and Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez along with many Roman Catholics at an afternoon prayer service Sunday, Feb. 16 at  the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia.

“All people of goodwill want peace, and all seek an end to the extreme violence of war. Peace, however, means more than the absence of fighting,” Archbishop Pérez said in his remarks during the Prayer for Hope and Perseverance, Peace and Justice in Ukraine.

“Pope St. Paul VI famously said more than 50 years ago: ‘If you want peace, work for justice.’ Further, he said that since everyone is convinced of the need for peace expressed in justice, ‘Why do we waste time in giving peace any other foundation than justice?’”

Archbishop Pérez prayed in solidarity just feet away from His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Galicia and primate of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, just as clergy and faithful from both the Ukrainian Catholic and Roman Catholic communities joined in prayer in the cathedral basilica.

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Choirs representing both Catholic traditions led the congregation in song without instrumentation. The singers’ somber tone reflected not only the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives in the war, but the continued concern that the war could end with what may be considered an unjust peace.

“Ukraine is still standing. Ukraine is still fighting. Ukraine is still praying. This miracle has been made possible through immense sacrifice,” said Archbishop Shevchuk.

“Every day at 9 a.m. the nation pauses to mourn its fallen soldiers. Every day Ukraine buries its best sons and daughters, those who have embodied the gospel truth. No one has greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. They are laying down their lives for me, for you, for all of us, for life and for truth, to defend democracy, to protect the innocent.”

The congregation listened to the Gospel for the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Luke 6:17-23. The passage, as proclaimed by Archbishop Pérez, included the Beatitudes.

At a time when so much of Ukraine – and so many Ukrainians around the world – weeps, that Gospel of hope underpinned the thoughts of both archbishops.

“Three years ago I watched images of the senseless and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces with dread and horror. At that time, I expressed deep sorrow and heartache that peace in Europe had been shattered. The pain and suffering that was unleashed has tragically continued with intensity,” said Archbishop Pérez.

“Three years ago, Archbishop (Borys) Gudziak (Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Archeparchy of Philadelphia) and I along with many others prayed in this very cathedral before an image of Mary, seeking the mantle of her protection as we consecrated Ukraine, Russia and all humanity to her Immaculate Heart. Today, along with Archbishop Shevchuk, we turn again to her.”

Yet Christians do so in the shadow of the cross, Archbishop Pérez added.

“The instrument of our Lord Jesus Christ’s suffering and death brings meaning to the mystery of our own suffering. In it, we see clearly the battle of good versus evil,” he said.

“We find hope in the cross of Christ. We witness not the finality of death but fulfillment through the resurrection of Jesus. Along the way of the cross we do walk the rugged path of peace.”

Archbishop Shevchuk shared a story of one of his former students at Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, someone who volunteered to join the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

As he and other soldiers drove through a recently liberated Ukrainian city, they saw incredible sights of destruction and devastation, along with “frightened people, deep misery.”

A friend asked the student where God is in all this, and in that moment, he had no answer.

“But just a few minutes later they came across a group of volunteers who had followed the troops into the devastated villages. Even though the sidewalks and buildings were still littered with booby traps, risking their own lives, those volunteers distributed food and hygiene supplies, embraced the terrified people and offered them words of comfort. And then he knew the answer,” said Archbishop Shevchuk.

He reminded the faithful at the cathedral that the prayers and support of millions of people around the world  are why Ukraine still stands.

“God is here. God is in them,” he said. “God is always on the side of the innocent victim. He stands with us. God is here.”