LENTEN PASTORAL OF THE UKRAINIAN CATHOLIC HIERARCHY OF THE USA 2026

As we enter the holy season of Great Lent, the Church once again invites us to walk a sacred path – a path from darkness into light, from sin into renewal, from spiritual cold into the warmth of God’s love. Lent can never be constrained to a certain period of time marked in red on the liturgical calendar. It is a pilgrimage of the heart, a gradual return to God, and a preparation to encounter the radiant joy of the Resurrection.

This year, however, we begin our Lenten journey while our world trembles under instability and suffering. Political tensions, both at home and abroad, social divisions, violence, uncertainty and moral confusion surround us. Our beloved ancestral homeland of Ukraine continues to endure the illegal invasion of a brutal foreign regime, which seeks not only to conquer territory but extinguish hope and life itself. The deliberate destruction of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, now, during the coldest winter experienced for many years – leaving cities and families in freezing darkness – is a cruel attempt to break the spirit of a people.

Yet Lent reminds us that darkness is never final, cold is never interminable. Christ Himself entered the deepest and coldest night – betrayal, suffering, abandonment, death – so that He might fill the world with unquenchable light. What Russia attempts to impose externally upon Ukraine mirrors what sin attempts internally within every human soul: to isolate, to numb, to darken, to freeze the heart.

The Church, in Her wisdom, calls each of us to recognize the cold and darkness within ourselves.  Sin slowly chills the heart. Pride hardens it. Indifference leaves it numb. Fear clouds it.  Resentment darkens it. Just as winter robs the earth of warmth and light, so too, spiritual negligence robs the soul of grace. We may live in affluent comfort, yet our hearts can still grow cold. We may see the daylight but continue to walk in spiritual darkness.

Lent is God’s springtime for the soul; it provides the antidote for what ails us if we take on the “easy yoke” of Lenten penitential practices prescribed by the Church. Through fasting we recognize our dependence on God. Through prayer we open the doors of the heart to His light. Through repentance we allow His warmth to melt what has hardened within us. And through good works we carry His light to those around us less fortunate.

As Ukraine suffers the literal cold and darkness brought upon it by violence, we confront the spiritual cold and darkness brought upon us by sin. And in both cases, Christ is the only true Light. When He walks towards Golgotha, He shows us that suffering united to God becomes the road to victory. When we travel along our Lenten journey faithfully, we participate in the same mystery that unites our suffering with God.

In our personal Lenten efforts, we are able also demonstrate our solidarity with our suffering brothers and sisters in Ukraine. Many there fast not by choice but by hardship. Many pray in fear as sirens sound nightly. Many endure days and nights without warmth. When we fast intentionally, we unite ourselves spiritually with our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. When we pray sincerely, we strengthen them. When we purify our hearts, we become instruments of God’s grace for our suffering people.

Therefore, let us take advantage of this holy season. Every sacrifice we make – whether freely giving up comfort, restraining harmful habits, forgiving those who offend us, intensifying our prayer life, offering a helping hand to those less fortunate – becomes a small step leading us out of spiritual winter and into the springtime of reconciliation with God.

During this sacred time of Great Lent may our hearts be renewed, our faith strengthened, our desire to do good revived, and our compassion deepened. And, at the culmination of our Lenten pilgrimage, may we enter unhindered into the radiant warmth and light of Pascha.

† Borys Gudziak

Archbishop of Philadelphia,
Metropolitan of Ukrainian Catholics in the United States

† Paul Chomnycky, OSBM (author)
Bishop of Stamford

† Вenedict Aleksiychuk
Bishop of St. Nicholas in Chicago

† Bohdan Danylo
Bishop of St. Josaphat in Parma