From: Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 1150)
As I contemplated Good Friday today, I realized that this day and Easter feel different now. Their significance has not diminished; in fact, I’d say we’re reminded of them every day.
The triumph of evil seems so evident every day that I often wonder if that’s how hopeless the disciples of Jesus felt on the day when He was crucified. However, we know that the story does not end on Friday. No matter how devastating and wicked, it is a mere momentariness compared to the eternity of resurrection. And that’s what gives us hope every day.
We live daily in this reality of Good Friday — Easter Sunday. We cry our eyes out and then rise again with new hope and strength of Christ in us. What a gift it is! What a joy it is! What an amazing love it is!
I was moved by the words of Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, “The basic question during the war is: “Where is God?” And I received an answer to that question from one young Ukrainian soldier. He told me, “God is in us. He is present in our everyday sufferings. He himself is killed each day in every slain soldier and civilian.” Christ is continuously tortured in each war prisoner, wounded in each soldier or civilian in Ukraine.
Venerating the suffering and the wounds of the people of Ukraine, we are venerating the crucified Lord. The cross, the passion of Christ for us in Ukraine, is not a cold statue on the wall but the living flesh of my people. In that flesh, we experience the presence of God. And because of his presence, we do have hope.”
Let us not lose hope on Good Friday but live in the triumphant victory of Easter Sunday.
Voice of Ukraine 