To root out sin from our souls. A retreat-meeting of the community Mothers in Prayer took place

This is one of the theses the leit-motif of which was the retreat-meeting of the community of servants of the Lviv Archeparchy movement Mothers in Prayer, marking the beginning of Lent. The retreat-meetings’ lecturer was the spiritual pastor of the movement, Proto-presbyter Mikhailo Dymyd. In general, there were a few thematic blocks. The retreat began with watching a video of a dance performed by mothers from Great Britain, the subject of which was directed to the problem of deflecting the concept of spiritual freedom. Starting off from such a preamble, Father Mikhailo continued spiritual consideration of the aspect of each one’s personal sinful participation in Christ’s passions, summing up the thesis «Christ was crucified on the cross because of my sins.» It is important in this case to note the word «my,» because generalizations here cannot be assumed, because the acceptance of God, according to Father retreat master, is a phenomenon especially personal. Among other blocks of the meeting there were the themes: penance, readiness for complete cleansing, and the elimination of sin. Also Fr. Mikhailo recalled to all present that this week is the Sunday of Orthodoxy and explained what its content is. In addition, for the numerous mothers who gathered under the roof of the conference hall of the Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Holy Mother of God, the March number of the magazine «By way of prayer,» in the contents of which was placed a special inset devoted to the movement Mothers in Prayer, was presented. According to the editor-in-chief of the magazine, Vasyl Stadnyk, the editors value the possibility of cooperation with the community of mothers very much, because it is a very convenient method for the comprehensive distribution of the publication. On the part of the mothers, approving reviews and gratitude were also heard for the editors, according to whose words the magazine is not only original and necessary but, moreover, is a source for an accessible and correct interpretation of spiritual postulates. It is necessary to note that such meetings already are traditional. After the retreat part, the mothers discussed questions of internal organizational life. At the very end the co-coordinator of the movement, Mrs. Vira Chmelyk, invited all to watch a short documentary film, made during a visit to Ukraine of Veronica Williams in May 2008.

Ivan Bondar, secretary of the movement Mothers in Prayer

Translated by the Information Department of the UGCC