“Today we ask: Jesus, rebirth Ukraine of water and the spirit,” — His Beatitude Sviatoslav on Sunday of the Man Born Blind
We are longing for light. The enemy came to our land as a thief to kill and destroy. However, Ukrainians have shown themselves to be deeply faithful people who, born in the waters of the Dnipro, are renewed in that life in Christ every day, defend Kyiv today, and shine the light of their faith to the whole world. Today we confess in the face of the godless world that the baptismal water of the Dnipro and our Ukrainian land, which we defend at the cost of our lives, is not a source of corruption and death but it carries and transmits to us the germ of eternal life through the power of God’s word, which we now hear in our churches.
The Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, emphasized this on the Sunday of the Blind Man during his sermon at the Liturgy celebrated in the Patriarchal House in Lviv.
In his sermon, the Head of the UGCC emphasized that today’s reading and the two previous Sundays accentuate one of the biblical symbols — water. Everything we hear in the Gospel today revolves around the central event of washing, which Christ commands the blind man to do.
The preacher highlighted the significance of the great deed of God resulting in Christ’s doing. By the ritual of healing the blind man, he explained, Christ accomplishes the act of re-creating man.
The new creation a person receives in the waters of baptism gives them a new life task to fulfill in the world. “The one who has emerged from the baptismal waters is sent into the world to profess faith in the One who has revived him. And thus, to shine with the light that he saw not only with his physical eyes but with the eyes of his faith,” the preacher emphasized.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav reminded us that we also honor the memory of St. John the Evangelist today, who gave us the life-giving words we hear and reflect on.
According to him, John wrote them to us so that we could understand that what Christ did to the blind man, this God’s deed, has no ending in space and time. The light continues to shine. The Gospel of Christ continues to be preached in the world. The Sacrament of Baptism continues to be open to all people.
The Head of the UGCC noted that today, amid war, when Ukrainians still see death, destruction, and darkness around them, they are already thinking about revival and reconstruction. “We are longing for light,” he said.
“May the Lord God renew all of us by the power of the Holy Spirit in our Christian life and vocation so that each of us may see the present Christ speaking to us on the roads of life: ‘You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you’ (John 9, 37–38). You are listening to the word of Christ today. And we said in response: ‘Lord, I believe!’ and worshiped Him,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav wished.
The UGCC Department for Information
