Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Sunday of All Saints of Rus’-Ukraine, Tone 3; the Holy Martyrs Manuel, Sabel and Ismael; Our Venerable Father Hypatius, Hegumen of Ruphenia (446)
Apostles’ Fast.
Read
Romans 6:18-23; 8:28-39; Matthew 8:5-13; 5:1-16
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
St. (Mother) Teresa of Calcutta had the tradition of “going to Jesus” before and after any sort of journey she needed to make outside of her house for the poor. Before going into the streets, she would head to the chapel and pray that He would be with her and work through her with the poor. Upon her return home, she would “go to Jesus” in the chapel and thank Him and praise Him. St. Teresa’s great faith in the Lord showed to the world the face of His love.
In our gospel message today we see a man- in fact, a Gentile man- whose faith in Christ shines forth in such a way that his servant is healed. He “goes to Jesus,” like many others have, but with a faith strong enough to allow Jesus to save his servant without even coming to the house. We read in Matt 13:58 that Jesus could not do miracles in his own town due to the people’s disbelief.
How do we come to Jesus? Hearing about Him is an important first step, but do we approach Him with faith? In the Liturgy, before we partake of the Chalice, we are commanded to approach in “fear and faith” that what we are receiving, although appearing as bread and wine, is, in fact, the Body and Blood of Christ. Mother Teresa knew that although she had never met a particular poor man on the streets of Calcutta before, that he was actually the suffering Christ who was hungry and thirsty for her love. As we celebrate the Apostles and in a special way our Ukrainian Apostles today, let us approach God in faith, confident that He too will make us saints if we let Him!