(Sunday of the Prodigal Son, March 3, 2024)
To Their Eminences and Most Reverend Bishops, reverend brothers and sisters in monasticism, to priests and faithful of the UGCC
Beloved in Christ!
On this Day of prison pastoral care, which the Synod of Bishops of the Kyiv and Halych Supreme Archdiocese of the UGCC has appointed for Ministry in prison, I would like to reflect on what the appeal of the Apostle Paul means: to remember prisoners, as if we ourselves were together with them in chains (Hebrews 13.3). First of all, I repeat this request, so that we remember our brothers and sisters, the thousands of prisoners of war who have fallen into the fetters of the criminal ruzzian ivaders and who are daily exposed to tortures, humiliation and death, but also who survive in hope. They need daily struggles for their salvation, and above all, prayers.
In the world, we often become prisoners of sin until our Lord Jesus breaks our bonds by cost of His great suffering and blood shed for us on the Cross. Along with such prisons of sin, many are physically imprisoned, locked up in actual prisons, behind bars and barbed wire fences. Whether a prisoner has committed a crime or has been unjustly punished, he is often the victim of bitterness and anger, loneliness, fear and despair, among other devastating emotions. And those who condone evil also attack and demoralize them, leaving them with no hope of salvation or even survival. This is a population that is easy to forget about. But even a criminal does not lose his dignity as a person, as a member of the human family, because he committed a crime. God is looking for and waiting for him, like a father for the return of his prodigal son.
Some prisoners are forced to live in extreme conditions of violence, indifference, selfishness, alienation and oblivion. This reality causes the fragility of our society. God's Light has great power to shine even in their darkness. And they are not forgotten by the Lord! God views those in prison as His beloved sons and daughters, made in God's image and likeness, who have eternal life, who can be saved and exalted through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. For Him, each person is unique, like a son who was dead and came to life (Lk. 15.24).
Dear brothers and sisters, even if you do not feel personally vocation to carry out such a difficult ministry of visiting or corresponding with prisoners, or supporting their liufe needs, you can still do something very important: voluntarily undertake to pray for those, who is in prison and who needs Christ so much. According to the testimony of our chaplains, many hardened, unattainable criminals experienced a supernatural change, knowing the light and love of Christ. The prisoners themselves admit that the miracle of conversion happened in their lives thanks to Christians who interceded for them in prayer. What motivates evil people to change? According to the testimony of once-convicted criminals, this change is the power of God's Word and the fellowship of truly godly people. Let us often ask for the intercession of the Mother of God and all the saints for them.
†Mikhail
*According to the resolution of the fifty-first session of the Synod of Bishops of the Kyiv-Halych Supreme Archdiocese of the UGCC (Chortkiv, July 13-14, 2010, God's year), a decision was made to devote special attention to the pastoral care of prisoners on Prodigal Son Sunday.
