Homily by Fr. Ruslan Babii on the Twenty-Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Today is the Lord's Day - Holy Sunday. In today's Gospel, God seems to want to emphasise to us that when more love should be poured ouet than this day, when he gathers us and calls us to show us his glory, his kindness, his mercy, and his openness.

The Lord will have mercy on the woman who came to him today. For eighteen years, she was hunched over and could not raise her gaze to heaven. She saw only what was under her feet. And she couldn't see anything in front of her; she couldn't see other people's eyes. It was hard for her to straighten her head. And Christ comes and shows liberation by her example, and he does it precisely on the day that belongs to the Lord. For the Jews, it was Saturday. He wants to show that it is precisely on this day that God most wants to act and most wants to show himself to people. And we see how the head of the synagogue reacted; the law was very important to him. He wanted to say to Christ, "Lord, can we break some law or some precept? We cannot do this; if You are the true messenger of God, you should understand this." Which Christ in his words seems to want to say: "No, you are a man, you are a lawgiver of the word of God, and you should not add burden to that law, but should explain it as the Lord wants you to, so that you bring relief, bring joy meeting with God to the people whom God has chosen, for whom he is waiting and whom he wants to give."

It is very important. The Lord calls us to the church to give faith and to give relief. As that shrivelled woman was healed of her illness, so each of us is in the image of that shrivelled woman, and so sin makes us. Sin makes us look only at our feet, only at our earthly lives. It makes us see only the earth and our human needs. And sometimes we are unable to even lift our heads up to see our neighbour, as the Lord wants us to see him. And we look at our neighbour and do not understand how we should behave with him, what we should talk about with him, how to communicate, and how to be one family with him. We sometimes do not understand the will of God or what the Lord wants from us. We are not able to understand it. Because that sin inclines us to the ground. Today's release of that woman is also an example of the release from sin of each of us. Because when we are free from it, we can feel joy. The joy of Christ's coming, the joy of being in His company, in the atmosphere of God's holiness, and in God's love. It inspires us, it elevates us, and it gives us a sense of certainty that with Christ we can see the world in a completely different way, live in it differently, perceive those we love differently, and learn to forgive those we don't love.

Lord's Day is the day on which the Lord wants to act and wants to unite us. We must understand that Sunday is the Lord's Day, the day of the Lord's Resurrection, and the day when we should glorify God and thank him for everything. The Lord calls us to the church, wants to gather us as one family, and gives us his grace in this way. If we stay at home and do not come to church, we will not feel that grace, we will not be able to receive that grace, and we will deprive ourselves of that gift of God.

I remind you that Christmas is coming soon, and this is the time when we have to say, "Lord, a lot of time has passed. I was worried about many things, I was sad about many things, and I cared about many things, but now I understand that the time of my salvation is coming, and I must be attentive to that time. I want to take part in what God is inviting me to, and I want to be open to God's grace." I hope that all of us, in the few weeks we still have before Christmas, will properly prepare ourselves for this holiday, begin the holy mystery of confession, and receive Christ truly in the purity of our hearts.

See also

November 16 Homily by Fr. Ruslan Babii on the Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost October 2 “Happy Holidays with God” in Ardeer September 21 Homily by Fr. Ruslan Babii on the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost