Ukrainian Catholic ChurchAustralia, New Zealand and Oceania
The Missionary Decade. Day Nine — “The Church that unites the alive and the dead”
May 23, 2026
We encourage everyone to respond to His Beatitude Sviatoslav’s invitation to prepare properly for the feast of Pentecost. Over the next few days, we will reflect on passages from the Gospel of John in the context of married and family life. Together, we will seek answers to important questions: how to preserve love in times of trial, how to learn unity, forgiveness, self-sacrifice, and mutual support, and how to build a family centered on God.
Saturday, May 23
A reading of the Holy Gospel according to John 21:15–25
Before the Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, our liturgical tradition observes the so-called “Saturday of the Departed". This is not a случайный custom but a deeply meaningful spiritual logic of the church. Standing on the threshold of the great feast of Pentecost, the Church offers prayer not only with the living but also with those who have already departed into eternity. Through this gesture, we express our faith that the Church is universal, embracing both the living and the dead. Death, as we know, does not break unity in Christ. Therefore, as we prepare for the feast that reveals the Church as the Body of Christ, we remember all of its members. In essence, before Pentecost the Church gathers all her children together in common prayer – both those still on earth and those who have already passed into eternity.
Moreover, there is another profound meaning here. The Holy Spirit is the “Giver of Life", as we pray in the prayer “Heavenly King". For this reason, before the feast of life, the Church prays for the departed, entrusting them to God’s mercy and asking that the Holy Spirit may lead them to the fullness of the resurrection and eternal life. At the same time, this Saturday serves as a deeply personal reminder for each one of us. It places before us a simple yet important truth: our lives are not limited to earthly reality alone. Each of us has an appointed time, and none of us will remain here forever, because ultimately we are all called to eternity.
This is precisely why it is so important to learn to value every day — both our own lives and the lives of our loved ones. What wisdom it is to cherish one another within marriage without wasting precious time on conflicts, resentments, and proving ourselves right. How important it is not to miss the opportunity to visit our parents and speak with them, because they will not always be with us. And what a great gift time with children truly is: to be with them, to listen to them, to share in their world — because they grow up so quickly, and the moment will come when they will go on to live their own lives, just as we ourselves will not always be able to remain besides them. Equally important is remembering our departed loved ones — not only keeping them in our memories, but also praying for them, entrusting them to God’s love, which is stronger than death.
Life does not wait for us to “settle everything” before we begin to love sincerely. It happens here and now — in simple encounters, in daily conversations, in those small moments that we so often underestimate. For the true tragedy is not that life is short but that at times we live it superficially, without truly loving.
Therefore, perhaps the most important question worth reflecting upon today is this: do I live in such a way that those closest to me truly feel that I love them today, and not someday later? Because love postponed “until later” very often remains unspoken. But love lived today becomes a treasure that does not disappear even in eternity.
Mission Tasks:
1. Personal Level: Let us make time for private prayer for our departed relatives and ask God for the grace to truly value life and the people who are besides us.
2. Parish Level: Let us find out the schedule of memorial services in our parish and take part in them so that through our common prayer we may support the memory of our departed. Let us also ensure that other parishioners can easily access this information and join in prayer.
3. Missionary Level: Let us become bearers of hope for those who are experiencing loss, especially because of the war, supporting them through our words, our presence, and our prayer. Let us help such people feel that they are not left alone with their pain.
