I will make with them a covenant of peace; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will multiply them, and put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling shall be with them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Ez 39:21-28)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040922.cfm
The promise of a covenant of peace has been fulfilled in the peace Christ has won for us by the blood of his cross. The challenge of course is to find our way to that peace in our world, to live as one people, putting an end to all division. And so we ask the prayers of the Theotokos (the Mother of God) for the Ukrainian people and for the people of Russia. In the video, English subtitles appear at 5:38.
These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Saturday of Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lent, April 9
