Archbishop Hebda joins Twin Cities church leaders in prayers for peace

Sometimes in Lent, “we wish God did not know us so well,” said the Rev. Patricia Lull, who with Archbishop Bernard Hebda and three other church leaders in the Twin Cities led an ecumenical prayer service for peace in Ukraine March 6 at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.

As Russia continues its effort to militarily take over its neighbor, people can feel gratitude for a God “who indeed knows us well, who knows the desperation we feel in the face of a massive military invasion of Ukraine, the raw human ache that reminds us how small we are” … with “prayers for mercy and peace foremost in hearts and lips,” said Rev. Lull, a bishop in the St. Paul Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Archbishop Hebda welcomed the congregation to the 90-minute service along with Bishop Ann Svennungsen of the Minneapolis Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Chorbishop Sharbel Maron, pastor of the Maronite rite parish St. Maron in Minneapolis; and Father Ivan Shkumbatyuk, a Ukrainian rite Catholic priest and pastor of St. Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church in Minneapolis.

People in the midst of the crisis in Ukraine have names, faces and hopes for their children, said Rev. Lull, who gave the evening’s central reflection. During Lent, she said, Christians have their eyes trained “to see afresh” where Christ’s journey on this earth led to the cross.

“That awful day, when it seemed all hope had been in vain, when it sure looked like evil was stronger than good … when the cruelty of the tyrant (seemed to be) the final word,” she said.

But the final word belongs to God, “the God who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead,” Rev. Lull said.

“Let all of us watch and pray (for) the people of Ukraine. We do what we can to offer aid and refuge,” she said.

The prayer service included music from the basilica’s Schola Cantorum and St. Constantine’s choir, which sang in Ukrainian.

Speaking to the congregation of more than 200, some wearing traditional Ukrainian attire, Father Shkumbatyuk said the war in Ukraine did not begin Feb. 24 with Russia’s attack on his country. It began eight years ago with Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the invasion of eastern Ukraine. “This is not a war of aggression,” he said.

Instead, it is the destruction of the Ukrainian nation, its history and identity, he said. “Christian values such as justice, freedom, solidarity, unity and patriotism are being destroyed. … Man cannot see the face of God, but we have seen the face of the devil.”

Father Shkumbatyuk asked the Lord to send wisdom and reason so that dialogue prevails over power.

“Let your voice be heard,” he said. “Act. We cannot remain silent and do nothing.”

Jeff Fink, 73, of Risen Savior in Burnsville, attended the prayer service. He said he served in Vietnam, and if he was 30 years younger, he’d try to find a way to Ukraine “and help if he could.”

That’s not an option now, he said, and participating in the prayer service seemed like “the least he could do.”

“I needed to come here and pray for their cause,” he said.

Bill Delano, 70, of Robbinsdale, who is not a member of a local church, said a friend invited him to attend the service to support and pray for the people of Ukraine. Delano, who said that for 20 years “several careers ago” he served as a federal agent in the Central Intelligence Agency, said he has been “in areas where there’s war zones.”

Yet what’s happening in Ukraine today “seems like one of the most unjust invasions I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime,” he said.

He thought the Cold War had ended. “And to see this happen again for no reason. It’s shocking and it’s saddening, and I’m terrified for the whole world.”

Delano said he hopes the Russian people will take advantage of “this opportunity to get their country going in the right direction.”

Marzena Laugen, a parishioner of Holy Cross in Minneapolis who emigrated from Ukraine, said it is important to support the Ukrainian people through prayer, penance, almsgiving “and asking our Lord for mercy.”

Laugen said the faithful should pray for peace, “hold the rosaries close to our hearts and ask our Blessed Mother Mary, Most Holy, to intercede.”