Voice of Ukraine

From Maia Mikhaluk in Kyiv (244th night of ruzzian invasion): We are thinking a lot these days about the literal and figurative meanings of Light and Darkness. This fight has been going on for 8 months, and we have been experiencing it not only physically but spiritually as well.

Now with regular blackouts and a very literal physical experience of darkness, we see how oppressive/disorienting/discouraging it may feel and yet how easily the darkness is broken even by the smallest flame of a candle. When it feels the worst/the darkest, you look up, and you see the brightness of stars (which you could never see in the city before), and you look inside, and you see the brightness of faith and hope. Light can devour the darkness but darkness cannot consume the light.

I can only imagine how “victorious” the Darkness looked on the day of the crucifixion of Christ. But that’s exactly when the Darkness got defeated.

The darkness of ruzzian invasion is being defeated these days not only on the front lines of the battlefields but in every Ukrainian home where a candle is lit up on a family dinner table, where people embrace each other to share warmth and encouragement, where prayers are lifted for God’s protection, His justice, His victory, His peace.

Eph 6:12 12: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”
— St. Francis of Assisi