Ukrainian Catholic ChurchAustralia, New Zealand and Oceania
Homily by Fr. Andriy Mykytyuk on the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
June 28, 2026
If we want to change this world and make it a better place, there is only one way: to let God into our lives and allow Him to act there. For where He is, there is no place for evil. Just as darkness cannot exist where there is light, so too evil cannot act where goodness is at work.
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Beloved in Christ, this Sunday we hear the Gospel in which the Evangelist Matthew tells us about Christ’s encounters with different people: His encounter with the demon-possessed men, with the herdsmen, and also with the inhabitants of the region of the Gadarenes, to which Christ had come. We see that when Christ comes to this region and two men come out to meet Him, these men are possessed by demons. The demons within them begin to cry out, saying: “What have we to do with You, Jesus, Son of David?” In this, they show that the devil has nothing in common with God. They show that when God comes into the territory where, we might say, the devil reigns, he becomes troubled and does not know what to do.
Then what happened was exactly what was to be expected. Christ commanded them to come out and to torment those men no more. The demons, having entered the herd of swine, rushed down the steep bank, and the whole herd plunged into the sea. We see that the herdsmen then became afraid. They did not know what had happened, and they did not know what would become of them after losing the property entrusted to them. And when the inhabitants came, they asked Christ to leave their region.
You know, when we look at our own lives, we realise that God also comes to meet us. He encounters us; He comes to us every single moment. And from the example of these three groups of people, we can take a lesson for ourselves and ask what we ourselves do. Do we say to God, “Leave this place”?
We have our own peace, our own rhythm of life, with our worries, our difficulties, and everything else. And we do not want to change it. We are comfortable as we are. But when God comes, everything changes, because evil can no longer remain there. And so we often say, “God, stay on the sidelines.” That is why, for many of us, God becomes only the God of Sunday or only the God of Easter. Because for the rest of the time, we want to live as we please. We want to keep the way of life to which we have become accustomed, together with all the difficulties that may trouble us but which we do not wish to change.
Or do we behave like the herdsmen, who simply become frightened and run away? When God comes and changes something in our lives, we flee. We do not know what to do next. We do not know how to continue on the path of life. Or do we act like those men who, having received healing, saw God and followed Him?
This passage from the Gospel according to Matthew shows us something very important: God comes into our lives. And when He enters, there is no place for evil there. When we look at this world and see all its injustice, when we see wars, hunger, and suffering, we often ask why things are this way. The answer is simple: because we, as human beings, live without God. Because we do not place Him first in our lives. Because we drive Him out of our lives. For if we had accepted Him and lived with Him, the world would be different.
Therefore, if we want to change this world and make it a better place, there is only one way: to let God into our lives and allow Him to act there. For where He is, there is no place for evil. Just as darkness cannot exist where there is light, so too evil cannot act where goodness is at work.
Therefore, I wish that we may allow God into our lives, that we may not be afraid of the way He acts, and that we may trust Him, walk with Him, and give Him the opportunity to make this world a better place through us.
Glory to Jesus Christ!
