Ukrainian Catholic ChurchAustralia, New Zealand and Oceania
Homily by Fr. Ihor Holovko on the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
August 2, 2025
“Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6–7)
Trusting in God
Christ teaches us to trust precisely when He invites us to do something new. This story about the feeding of thousands of people is one we have heard many times, along with homilies that explain to us:
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The theological aspect: there is one God who created everything and governs all.
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The spiritual aspect: Jesus prays for the people.
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The moral aspect: about the love of the Saviour for the people.
Of course, in moments of need, we tend to think in human terms: if only we had enough food, we would feed everyone. If we had money, we would do this or that—repair something, pay off our bank debt, and so on. But let us pause and reflect: what is my trust in God like?
In the first reading of the Liturgy, we heard about division among Christians or between Churches. Every division occurs because of a lack of trust in God. When we trust in God’s invitation, we receive a hundredfold in return. “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6–7)
He (the Saviour) came “so that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Grace, then, is given in abundance. We bring our lack, our limitations, our imperfections, and our needs so that the Lord may transform or complete them. In the Lord’s Prayer, we ask for sufficiency now, not only for tomorrow: “Give us this day our daily bread.” We understand this to mean not only bread for the body but also the Bread of Life—spiritual nourishment. That is why our life is meant to be good today, in the here and now. We are invited to serve all those who are in need of daily bread—both physical and spiritual—today and now.
“Whatever you give, you will one day find again; you will find it at the moment when you yourself need it “most,”—Servant of God Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky.
