Homily by Fr. Simon Ckuj on the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Glory to Jesus Christ!

Today, on this 4^th Sunday after Pentecost, we are blessed with a double grace: the grace of the Lord’s Word and the grace of Mary’s perpetual help. In the liturgical calendar of our Ukrainian Catholic Church, this Sunday we honour the Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help—a powerful reminder that God, in His mercy, has given us a Mother who never ceases to intercede, to comfort, and to draw us toward her Son.

Let us begin with the Gospel of Matthew where we encounter the remarkable faith of the Roman centurion. A Gentile, a man outside of the chosen people of Israel, approaches Jesus—not with arrogance, but with humility. He does not demand. He does not insist. He simply says, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. But only say the word, and my servant shall be healed.”

The centurion, though not schooled in Scripture or temple law, understood something essential: faith is not about control or entitlement, but about trust in the Word of the Lord.

It is this same trust that we see reflected in the eyes of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, whose icon speaks not with words, but with a silent gaze full of compassion and strength. She looks not only at Jesus in her arms, but at us, inviting us to come to her not as strangers or outsiders, but as children who seek mercy.

In the epistle reading from Romans St. Paul writes: “Having been freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness… For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. These are sobering but liberating words. Sin enslaves us—whether it is the sin of pride, anger, addiction, or despair. But in Christ, we are freed. And this freedom is not a freedom to do as we like, but to live as we ought—to live as servants of righteousness, servants of truth, servants of love.

Mary, the Mother of Perpetual Help, is the perfect example of this righteous freedom. Her whole life was a “yes” to God. A fiat. A surrender. And yet in that surrender, she was most free—free to become the Theotokos, the God-bearer, the one who carries not only Jesus in her womb, but each of us in her heart.

We cannot speak of Our Lady of Perpetual Help without also honouring those who have helped to spread her devotion across the world—especially the Redemptorist Fathers. It was the Redemptorists, particularly in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, who were entrusted by Pope Pius IX with the mission to “make her known throughout the world.” And how faithfully they have fulfilled that mission—especially here in our Ukrainian Church. For generations, the Ukrainian Redemptorists have carried the Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help to parishes, towns, and villages—especially in times of suffering and uncertainty. During war, persecution, exile, and migration, they have placed this holy icon in the hearts of the faithful as a sign that God has not forgotten us and that Mary walks with us.

Even today, in the midst of war in Ukraine, our Redemptorist Fathers continue their sacred work—serving displaced families, celebrating the sacraments under bombardment, comforting the sick, and holding up the icon of the Mother of Perpetual Help as a sign of hope for a nation in pain.

What does all of this mean for us today, here and now?

It means that, like the centurion, we are invited to trust in the power of Christ’s word. It means that, like St. Paul’s hearers, we are called to live not as slaves to sin but as servants of righteousness. And it means that, like the Redemptorists before us, we are sent into the world with Mary’s icon in our hearts and her message on our lips: that no one is forgotten, no one is alone, and no one is beyond the reach of God’s mercy.

The icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is more than a painting. It is a window into the heart of the Gospel. It shows us that Christ, even as a child, is already the Man of Sorrows, destined for the Cross. But it also shows us the loving presence of His Mother—strong, sorrowful, yet unwavering. And it reminds us that we, too, can bring Christ to the world, even when we feel weak or afraid.

Dear friends, on this Sunday, let us go home with two images in our hearts:

• The faith of the centurion, who teaches us that one word from Jesus can heal what seems unhealable.
• And the face of the Mother of Perpetual Help, who teaches us to look always to Christ, even in our moments of deepest need.

Let us pray today, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother, for peace in Ukraine and throughout the world. Let us remember the Redemptorists and all those who serve the Church in difficult places. And let us ask Our Lady of Perpetual Help to keep us always under her mantle of protection, that we may live not as slaves of fear, but as servants of grace, children of light, and heralds of hope.

Mother of God of Perpetual Help — Save Us!

See also

November 22 Homily by Fr. Simon Ckuj on the Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost October 11 Homily by Fr. Simon Ckuj on the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost August 20 Ukrainian and Armenian Bishops met in Melbourne