One of the most moving images to come out of Ukraine in the first hours after the launch of Russia’s invasion of the nation was of a group of people gathered in prayer in the main square in Kharkiv.
They kneel on a chequered space that reminds one of a chessboard. Their presence disrupts the pattern. They are solid, while the pattern itself is unclear, fading away at the edges. Pieces might move on this ghostly board, but our focus right now is on those in the firing line.
Prayer is all that many of us have to offer at the moment. Pope Francis has called for Ash Wednesday to be a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Ukraine. The announcement was made as the attacks were imminent, but now we’re praying for the violence to end rather than to prevent it from beginning.
One might wonder what the point of praying is when forces are in the field, when minds are made up, when the pieces are already on the move?
Yet prayer is its own form of disruption. It’s an unwelcome invasion into the logic of power, a counter-offensive to violence and horror. It occupies a place – in minds and hearts – that those who call for and wage war can never occupy.
In Christian terms, prayer is a reminder that our place, our time, is not just now, but infinite. That the efforts of those who bring violence into the world are, in the scope of this infinite picture, inevitably futile.
Right now, though, it’s hard to believe in this. Prayer, then, is most of all about hope. About taking refuge. About placing our concerns before the one being that has the power to make a difference where all other efforts have failed.
Over coming days, we’ll all be keeping the Ukrainian people at the forefront of our minds. Many of us, will be keeping them in our prayers, especially this Ash Wednesday.
There’s a Twitter account which tweets out the Peace Prayer of St Francis twice a day each day. Social media feeds will be filled with images and stories and speculation about the conflict in coming weeks. This account might be worth the follow, for the welcome disruption that it brings.
PEACE PRAYER OF ST FRANCIS
Lord make Me an instrument of Your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine master grant that I may
Not so much seek to be consoled as to console
To be understood, as to understand.
To be loved, as to love
For it's in giving that we receive
And it's in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it's in dying that we are born...
To eternal life.