Ukrainian Catholic ChurchAustralia, New Zealand and Oceania
Homily by Fr. Simon Ckuj on the Second Sunday of the Great Lent
March 15, 2025
Do we come to Christ as the paralytic did? Do we seek healing for our souls as much as for our bodies? The paralytic could not reach Christ on his own. He needed his friends to bring him. This is a powerful lesson for us: We do not walk this journey of salvation alone. We need the prayers of the saints. We need the wisdom of the Church. We need each other—to encourage, to pray, and to help one another draw closer to Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
As we continue our journey through the Great Lent, the Church reminds us today of two essential truths: The greatness of Christ, who is unchanging and eternal. And Our need for faith and repentance, which bring healing to our souls. These two themes are present in both our Epistle and Gospel readings today. Let us reflect on them together.
The Apostle Paul, quoting the Psalms, declares: “Thou, Lord, didst found the earth in the beginning,
and the heavens are the work of thy hands; they will perish, but thou remainest.” (Heb. 1:10–11) All things in this world are temporary. Empires rise and fall. People grow old and pass away. Even the heavens and the earth will one day pass away. But Christ remains forever. St. John Chrysostom reminds us, “The heavens may change, but Christ remains unchanging, calling us always to Himself.” In the midst of life’s uncertainties, where is our foundation? Do we build our hope on things that pass away—money, comfort, human approval—or on Christ, who is eternal?
St. Paul warns us: “We must pay the closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” (Heb. 2:1) Drifting away from God does not happen suddenly. It happens slowly, through neglect—when we stop praying, when we allow distractions to take over, when we postpone repentance. St. Basil the Great writes, “The devil does not lead us into destruction all at once, but step by step, through neglect of small things.”
Lent is a time to wake up spiritually—to renew our prayer, our fasting, our acts of love, so that we do not drift away from Christ. In today’s Gospel, we see four men bringing a paralytic to Jesus. They cannot reach Him because of the crowd, so they remove the roof and lower the man down. What does Jesus do? First, He forgives the man’s sins. Then, He heals his body. This teaches us an important truth: Sin is the greater sickness. Even if our bodies are healthy, if our souls are burdened by sin, we are not truly well. St. Augustine says, “The body may be whole, but if the soul is sick with sin, what benefit is health?”
Brothers and sisters, do we come to Christ as the paralytic did? Do we seek healing for our souls as much as for our bodies? The paralytic could not reach Christ on his own. He needed his friends to bring him. This is a powerful lesson for us: We do not walk this journey of salvation alone. We need the prayers of the saints. We need the wisdom of the Church. We need each other—to encourage, to pray, and to help one another draw closer to Christ. St. John Climacus teaches, “As iron sharpens iron, so does one soul sharpen another in the struggle for salvation.”
As we continue our pilgrimage through the Great Lent let us ask ourselves three questions
- Are we drifting away from Christ through spiritual neglect?
- Do we seek healing, not only for our bodies but for our souls?
- Are we helping others draw near to Christ, as the friends of the paralytic did?
Let us use this time of the Great Fast wisely. Let us renew our faith, confess our sins, and approach Christ, who alone can heal both soul and body. May He, the Eternal and Unchanging One, strengthen us in this season of repentance, that we may not neglect so great a salvation.
