Listening to Verdi’s Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves
my heart weeps
tears fall
my body stills
paused for the people
those without a warm bed and a home tonight.
Yes victims of war
and today victims of disasters
especially todays flood victims here
And so the war in Ukraine continues.
To see the people leaving their homes
leaving their husbands, fathers, sons behind,
leaving their homeland in the thousands,
now up to 4 million women and children
displaced is horrible
a tragedy.
Who could imagine this would happen again
in the 21st century.
My heart and love go out to the people of Ukraine
and to the many people of Russia
who have the courage
to stand up and oppose this brutal invasion.
Former U.S president Barack Obama’s 2011 speech before the British Parliament said:
‘the longing for freedom or human dignity is not English, American, or Western,
but universal, and beats in every heart’.
I say it again:
We are all Ukrainians.
Our destinies are intertwined
with the destines of all others on the planet
as monk and social activist Thomas Merton once observed:
“we do not exist for ourselves alone’.”
“Creation of the World” by Ukrainian iconographer Lyuba Yatskiv.
(Thank you to my Hildegardian friend Amanda Dillon for sourcing these sensitive icons by Ukraine iconologists.)
It is incredible to me that within 3 months of COP26 in Glasgow, a war was launched at the other end of Europe with the explicit threat of the use of nuclear weapons or the explosion of a nuclear energy facility. Beyond its implications for human beings, the environment impact would be catastrophic.
How do these 2 possibilities exist side-by-side in our culture? Why is there always staggering amounts of money readily available for the purchase of death technology, but it’s so difficult to find the will – let alone the money – to solve our environmental problems?
Where is all the toxic waste material, the rubble of the bombed out, burnt-to-a-cinder cities, like Mariupol, going to go? The environmental impact is part of the long term human impact, but it is never discussed. Maybe we need an international court for war crimes against nature? Lord have mercy. 🙏🏼💙🇺🇦💛🙏🏼
“Archangel Michael. The defeat of satan” by Ukrainian iconographer, Kateryna Kuziv.
Praying for the defeat of the evil of war.
A friend has researched and shared Ukrainians icons
that are very touching and I would like to share them here
Thank you Amanda for giving me permission to share