Throughout this morning’s run, all I had on my mind was the reality that as our world emerges from pandemic, suffering and sorrow in so many forms, the human family is being shaken and tested by yet another war. As I ran from Armory, up Mill and then Prospect Street to the Albertus Magnus track, I was thinking of the route I would take on some morning runs around the perimeter of Catholic University where I studied theology as a seminarian. Set at the peak of the steep climb up Harewood Road was the beautiful Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family. This morning, I was thinking of—and praying for—the current Dean of the School of Theology and Religious Studies, the Very Reverend Mark Morozowich, a Ukrainian Catholic priest, who taught me liturgy, and my then seminary classmates now brother priests in the Ukrainian Catholic Church. What must they be thinking and feeling right now, for their families, their church and communities back home?

This late afternoon, let us please take time to pray for—and with—our brothers and sisters in Ukraine, Russia, the surrounding countries and throughout the whole human family. Let us pray for peace.

Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has called for Ash Wednesday to be a Day of Fasting for Peace with the following words:

“And now I would like to appeal to everyone, believers and non-believers alike. Jesus taught us that the diabolical senselessness of violence is answered with God’s weapons, with prayer and fasting. I invite everyone to make [March 2^nd], Ash Wednesday, a Day of Fasting for Peace. I encourage believers in a special way to dedicate themselves intensely to prayer and fasting on that day. May the Queen of Peace preserve the world from the madness of war.”

Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for us. Amen.