With the people, the Church suffers; the Church is the people who suffer. Without being too mystical, the Church is first of all the Christians who experience this time in the hope and trust of the presence of God; and then it is its representatives and its "places" and means that are found where people are. We could say, a sacrament of God's presence in life's places.
People need someone to keep hope awake and wipe away tears. Many are looking for places to continue invoking the name of the Prince of Peace. Numerous prayer groups of both young people and adults have come into existence and continue to be faithful. In the Salesian house in Kyiv, they are at the thousandth day of daily prayer to Mary Help of Christians that she may protect the young enlisted men and all the families, and obtain from God the gift of victory over evil and of just and lasting peace. But not only that: there are numerous parish groups of "mothers in prayer", groups of fathers called "Knights of Columbus", youth groups...
As for buildings, the Church has also had its serious losses. It is enough to see destroyed churches, collapsed bell towers, unusable monasteries here and there; but even more important is the loss of people, of places for meeting, prayer, spiritual regeneration that these buildings made possible. Of course, no bishop or priest or religious has escaped all this; but the life of relationships that allowed us to develop the faith together in Christian daily life, the moments of silence and retreat, of prayer, of reflection, has been broken. There is a risk that community life which makes spiritual life possible will fail.
The church has become a field hospital. Not only in the metaphorical sense in which Pope Francis said it, but often also in a real sense. It is there that people have found safe haven, care of soul and body, support in despair, refreshment in weariness.
At this point the Church has really become flesh, she has made herself present, going towards, being with, seeking, even digging with her hands helping people. And priests are like fabric for the torn life of people: the sacraments as and where you can, a word, presence, listening, prayer, keeping God present. Of course, time and willingness to listen, to help, to be present might also suffice as a sense of human closeness and solidarity. But we know that we also evangelise this way, and we proclaim Jesus amid this noise and in these ruins, so that the ruins of bricks and structures do not become ruins of people and of the structure of Christian life itself.
Sometimes I have thoughts that right now aid trucks are more useful (and sometimes I have even thought about weapons)... But it’s not like that. The priest, the Church has to offer and make present what can never be lacking, if we still wish to live with dignity. The most powerful defence and weapon against evil is God alone. Also and above all for children and young people. If the Church were to be absent in this, in this dream of beginning to rebuild, we would not only lose the future, but even worse our very soul.
If the fruitfulness of the Church is shown above all in vocations, well, we had eight young people who began the journey in the Seminary, and the ordination of four deacons choice matured in this tragic period, where perhaps they discovered a different call, they heard a different voice that becomes a sign of hope for all.
