Around sixty pilgrims arrived in Corato from Ukraine, carrying with them the simplest yet greatest desire of all: peace. Not only peace for their country, but peace for their families, their children, and their loved ones who have remained behind in a land where the war continues to bring pain, fear, and separation.
And so Corato, the city of Luisa, became a place of hope for them.
At the home and the places connected with the life and memory of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, the pilgrims brought their intentions, their tears, and their hopes. They came to entrust their prayers to Luisa, asking her to accompany them and to intercede for them, so that peace might return to their homeland.
It is especially meaningful that peace has such an important place in Luisa’s writings. Peace is not simply the absence of war; it is the fruit of a life surrendered to God, the fruit of the Divine Will entering the human heart and transforming it.
In a passage from Volume 12, dated April 24, 1921, Jesus speaks to Luisa about a very different kind of “war.” He says: «My war will be a war of love.» He explains that the acts performed in the Divine Will will not fight with weapons of blood, but with the weapons of love, bringing souls «gifts, graces, peace.»
Today, in light of the suffering endured by the people of Ukraine, these words take on a particular power and significance.
In the face of the tragedy of war, Luisa reminds us that there is another kind of strength: the strength of love, which does not destroy but rebuilds; which does not divide but brings people together; which does not create fear but brings peace.
The Ukrainian pilgrims brought their homeland and their families with them to Corato. But they also brought something even more precious: the hope that suffering will not have the final word. And perhaps the most beautiful gift they left us was the reminder that peace is a gift to be cherished, lived out, and prayed for every day, beginning in the heart of each one of us.