WOMEN IN WAR MEET CHRIST

 

 

As women continue to bear the burdens of war in the Ukraine, they know that nothing will be the same, but in spite of the hardships, these women are  brave and resilient. These are ordinary women performing profound acts of bravery in the face of adversity. And they’re all doing it with dignity

 "It is not normal to have this life, we are peaceful people. I've only heard of war from my grandparents. We live in the 21st century. We were developing, we were studying," says one young woman.

This war- like all wars- is also putting women and girls at a grave risk of violence, exploitation and abuse as they are displaced and now we hear of the bombing of the maternity hospital in Mariupol and the mass execution of civilians in Bucha.

An estimated 80,000 women will  have given birth in the first three months in the war– many of them without access to critical maternal health care, and for many childbirth will be a life-threatening rather than a life-changing experience.

“When we resort to violence, we show that we no longer know anything about God, who is our Father, or even about others, who are our brothers and sisters.

 We see this in the folly of war, where Christ is crucified yet another time. Christ is once more nailed to the Cross in mothers who mourn the unjust death of husbands and sons. He is crucified in refugees who flee from bombs with children in their arms. He is crucified in the elderly left alone to die; in young people deprived of a future; in soldiers sent to kill their brothers and sisters.

 ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”    (Pope Francis , Palm Sunday 2022)

This week as we go through the journey with Jesus as He heads to His earthly end, let us remember His prayer to the women He met along the way: Weep not for Me but weep for yourselves and your children.

Station of the Cross: Felicity Prazak- USA