Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, 2025

As we know, a war is raging in Ukraine. And, because this war takes place in our current day, we can be on the battlefield virtually, and see it with our own eyes. 

I saw one video that was incredibly moving.


Apparently, the Russians and Ukrainians can be so close to each other’s positions that they can accidentally run into each other’s areas for safety.


So, for example, you’re in an open field and a grenade comes in, and you need to get up and run out of your spot, you can very easily wind up taking cover with the enemy who threw that grenade.


And that’s almost exactly what happens in this video. There’s a Ukrainian soldier, wearing a helmet camera, shooting his gun in a certain direction and from that same direction comes an unarmed Russian soldier trying to take cover directly next to the soldier who was fighting against him.


The disorientation and shock on this unarmed Russian soldier’s face is very apparent. You can tell he realizes he’s in the wrong place. Likewise, the shock of the Ukrainian soldier’s voice is also extremely apparent.


The Russian soldier was going to die if he didn’t get on the ground quickly. And, in his desperation, amidst the loud noise and bullets flying all around, he reaches his hand to the enemy to help him to the ground. And the Ukrainian soldier, equally as shocked with this Russian soldier standing over him, lifts his hand up towards the other and grabs it to support him to the ground.


Their instinctual reaction to each other was not to kill but to help, support, and hold on to. There was no thinking taking place. It was all instinct.


It was insane to watch, and it highlights the truth about the very core of our human nature, which is good. The core of our human nature does not want to attack and kill. It wants to hold on to, support, and protect.


Which reveals the fact that our enemy is not really our enemy.


For example, the people we very much dislike on television; the people that may be cheating the system; the people we see as ideologically completely mistaken, are not our enemy.


And Jesus doesn’t see them as enemy either.


Simeon, the prophet in the temple, proclaimed that Jesus is the light to the Gentiles and the glory of Israel. And those two groups hated each other. Which goes to show that when it comes to groups of people: Jesus doesn’t take sides. He wants to save EVERYBODY. 


Because, from Jesus’ perspective, and from a Christian’s perspective, to hate another makes no sense. It makes no sense to see the other person as enemy because we are all in the same boat desperately needing someone else’s help. As a priest friend once told me, “No man can withstand an investigation;” meaning, we all are broken in some way and are in need of Jesus to save us.



This day’s scripture readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020225.cfm

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