Ukrainian Catholic ChurchAustralia, New Zealand and Oceania
Homily by Fr. Simon Ckuj on the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Feast of the Holy Icon of the Mother of God of Perpetual Help
July 4, 2026
Today, let us ask the Mother of Perpetual Help to make the words of Saint Paul come alive in us: to make our love genuine, our hope strong, our prayer constant, our mercy wide, our hearts courageous. Let us ask her to bring us to Christ so that He may speak again those healing words: “Take courage… your sins are forgiven… rise.”
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, today the Church places before our eyes two profound gifts: the Word of God for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, and the radiant icon of the Mother of God of Perpetual Help. Both speak to the same deep truth — that God enters our human weakness not to condemn, but to heal, strengthen, and lift us into His life.
Saint Paul, in the reading from Romans, gives us a vision of the Christian life that is both demanding and beautiful. He speaks of the many gifts given to the Body of Christ — prophecy, ministry, teaching, encouragement, generosity, leadership, mercy. But notice what lies beneath all these gifts: a heart transformed by grace. “Let love be genuine,” Paul says. “Hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good… Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer… Bless those who persecute you… Live in harmony with one another.”
This is not simply a list of moral instructions. It is a portrait of the healed human person — the person touched by Christ, restored by Christ, and sent by Christ. It is the picture of a soul that has allowed God to enter its wounds.
And this brings us to the Gospel. Christ returns to His own city, and a paralytic is brought before Him. The Lord looks not first at the man’s body, but at his heart: “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.” Only then does He say, “Rise, take up your bed, and go home.”
The healing of the body flows from the healing of the soul.
The paralysis of the man mirrors the paralysis that can take hold of any of us — the paralysis of fear, of resentment, of exhaustion, of sin. Sometimes we cannot walk forward in life because something inside us has become heavy, wounded, or discouraged. And Christ comes to us exactly as He came to that man: not with condemnation, but with courage; not with judgment, but with mercy; not with distance, but with healing.
Today, as we honour the Mother of God of Perpetual Help, we see this same mystery expressed in her icon. She is the one who carries our fears, our wounds, our paralysis, and brings them to her Son. The Kontakion of today’s feast gives us words that echo the Gospel and the epistle:
“Our Mother of Perpetual Help, grant us confidence in worries, relief in pain, comfort in sorrow, help in struggle. Grant unity to Christians, zeal to church ministers, forgiveness to sinners, endurance to the righteous, salvation to the dying; obtain purification and eternal glory to souls.”
The icon of Perpetual Help shows the Mother holding Christ firmly, yet with a tenderness that invites us to trust her. The angels in the icon carry the instruments of the Passion — the cross, the nails, the spear — reminding us that Christ’s healing comes through His sacrifice. The Mother’s gaze is not on her Son, but on us. She sees our wounds, our fears, our paralysis, and she says: “Come. I will bring you to Him.”
And Christ, in turn, looks at us with the same compassion He showed the paralytic. He sees not only what is broken, but what can be restored. He sees not only our sins, but our capacity for holiness. He sees not only our struggles, but the gifts He has placed within us — gifts meant to build up the Church, to strengthen our families, to bring hope to our communities, and to witness to the world.
Today, let us ask the Mother of Perpetual Help to make the words of Saint Paul come alive in us: to make our love genuine, our hope strong, our prayer constant, our mercy wide, our hearts courageous. Let us ask her to bring us to Christ so that He may speak again those healing words: “Take courage… your sins are forgiven… rise.”
And let us remember in prayer all who are paralysed today — by illness, by grief, by war, especially our brothers and sisters in Ukraine who continue to endure suffering and uncertainty. May the Mother of Perpetual Help wrap them in her mantle, and may Christ grant them strength, protection, and peace.
May this feast renew our confidence that God is with us, healing us, guiding us, and lifting us into His life. And may the Mother of Perpetual Help intercede for us always, leading us to her Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.
