Bishop Mykola Cardinal Bychok, “Pray that I may be a faithful shepherd and teacher of the Beatitudes”

O Master, we eagerly fall before You and give ardent thanks”.

Welcome to the beautiful Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. Built by our Ukrainian pioneers as a living temple of their faith and their unbreakable bond of love to the Ukrainian Catholic Church, her history and traditions.

I acknowledge many guests who are here today: His Excellency Charles Balvo, Apostolic Nuncio, who is our link to the Holy Father, Pope Francis. I welcome my brother bishops, who have come from near and far to pray and support me today. I acknowledge the presence of His Grace Anthony Fisher, Archbishop of Sydney, my brother Eastern Catholic Bishops, the priests and deacons of our Eparchy and visiting priests. I warmly welcome my brother Redemptorists and all religious men and women.

To members of other Christian communities, I welcome you with great joy, in particular Bishop Genieve Blackwell from the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, Archpriest Michael Solomko from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, members of the Victorian Council of Churches and other faith leaders.

I warmly welcome representatives of political and civil authorities, community groups and organisations, I welcome the Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia His Excellency Vasyl Myroshnychenko and all of you, who have joined me in this Cathedral or via the web streaming. Thank you for your presence and prayers.

The Words of today’s kondakion, very much sum up my feelings. Found worthy of your gifts and benefits beyond our merits… We eagerly fall before You and give ardent thanks. So today I give thanks to God for all the benefits and gifts He has bestowed upon me, which is truly beyond any merits of mine. But as the Holy Father Pope Francis often reminds us, that we have God of surprises. God also surprises us by allowing us to deal with the situations that arise in our lives.

It was unimaginable a few months ago that I would be standing before you as a Cardinal of the Holy Church, with all the responsibilities that this high office brings. I have been greatly strengthened by the prayers and support of my brother bishops in Australia and Ukraine, as well as thousands of well wishes from around the world, whose prayers have accompanied me.

The words of the Holy Apostle Paul, that we have just heard in the epistle reading, also fill me with hope.

St. Paul offers us a list that describes what we as Christians should expect to see flowing from our lives, when we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us. This is not a list of nine separate fruits but of one gift of the Spirit that we should expect when we allow the Spirit of God into our lives.

The first is love. St. Paul uses the Greek word “agape”, being the selfless love — a love that expects nothing in return. This is the love that should be at the heart of every Christian and especially of priests, bishops and cardinals. The 14^th of February is celebrated by the world as St. Valentine’s Day — a day of love. St. Valentine as a priest and martyr imitated Christ in offering his life as the greatest gift of love.

St. Paul also speaks of joy, not in the sense of happiness, but the joy we receive from inner confidence when we, have an understanding of what our place is in Christ’s plan. This then results in a supernatural peace that comes from our trust in God. A peace, not of this world, but a peace that can only come when we resign ourselves to the loving will of God.

The Holy Apostle concludes with the gift of faithfulness. This is not the gift of faith, but of endurance and perseverance, that is driven by our trust in God. Faithfulness allows us to keep going even when we are not sure what God is planning for us.

All these gifts of the Spirit are to be found in St. Cyril whose falling asleep we celebrate today in the Byzantine calendar and who together with his brother Methodius is celebrated as a feast in the western calendar.

The Holy and equal to the Apostles Cyril and Methodius, Apostles to the Slavs and co-patrons of Europe, have much to teach us by their love and faithfulness. They overcame much adversity in proclaiming the Gospel to the Slavic people of central eastern Europe in their native language. They had to deal with Popes and Emperors, who at times tried to prevent them from preaching God’s Word. They were persecuted, stuck between the politics of east and west. Misunderstood by some, mistrusted by others. Yet through all their trials they were faithful. They endured to the end. Today many nations and people owe their faith in the One True God and their written language to Saints Cyril and Methodius. This includes the Ukrainian nation.

In my appointment as a cardinal, I too have a distant link St. Cyril.

In 861, St. Cyril, by his own account, recovered the Holy relics of St. Clement the 4^th Pope of Rome from Crimea, Ukraine, where he was martyred. He brought these relics with him to Rome where they were placed under the altar of the Basilica of St. Clemente, after his death, St. Cyril was also buried in the crypt of St. Clemente.

In 1969 Patriarch Josyp (Slipiy) having constructed the Pro Cathedral of Hagia Sofia on the Via Boccea in Rome, asked the Holy Father Paul the 6^th to grant a relic of St. Clement to be placed in the altar. This was done by patriarch Josyp as a reminder that the 4^th Pope was martyred in what is now modern day Ukraine — and because a part of St. Clement’s relics were kept in the ancient Sobor of Hagia Sofia in Kyiv, the mother church of Ukraine. On the 28^th of September 1969 the Holy Father, St. Paul the 6^th solemnly brought the Holy relics of St. Clement to the Cathedral on the day of Consecration.

The Basilica of Santa Sofia became a place of pilgrimage but above all a place of hope in the dark days of persecution of our church. It was the cathedral in exile for our patriarch and a visible link to our Kyivan tradition.

At the consistory on the 7^th of December 2024, Pope Francis named me Cardinal Priest of St. Sofia in Via Boccea. So, my titular church contains the relics of St. Clement, brought to Rome by St. Cyril. I am humbled to be the Cardinal priest of this great Temple, a visible sign of our church’s resilience and faithfulness.

In today’s Gospel, we heard the beginning of Our Lord’s sermon on the Mount — The Beatitudes. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us, that “The Beatitudes respond to the natural desire for happiness. This desire is of divine origin: God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it… The Beatitudes reveal the goal of human existence, the ultimate end of human acts: God calls us to his own beatitude.”

Our prayer today also includes our desire for a just peace in Ukraine and in other parts of the world where people suffer from war. Every person has the right to live in happiness. It is our responsibility as individuals as well as a church and community to do all that we can to see the realisation of these promises that Christ offers us. We are called to be servants of the Beatitudes’ paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulation.

Australia too needs to hear the message of Christ found in the beatitudes. Because the Beatitudes teach us how to become more like God, how to be living icons, reflecting the image of truth, goodness and beauty which is at the heart of God in whose images and likeness we are created.

Today, I also reflect on the words of the psalmist, “Not unto us O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name give glory, for the sake of thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness”. Becoming a Cardinal is not for personal glory, but a cross that I must carry. Pray that I may worthily carry this burden for the glory of God and His Church. Pray that I may be a faithful shepherd and teacher of the Beatitudes. Pray that I may be steadfast in faith and courageous in love preaching the truth as handed to us by the Apostles and Holy Fathers.

May Christ, who is the Image of the Beatitudes, grant to us His grace, that we may grow in faith, hope and love always giving thanks to God for the gifts and benefits we receive, beyond our merits, but through God’s love for mankind. Amen.