Read: Luke 8:26-39
The idea this gospel is addressing is fear. Jesus comes to the land of the Gerasenes and casts out a legion of demons from a possessed man. The gospel of Luke is succinct on this point and only notes that he lived among the tombs (that is, among the dead).
In the gospel of Matthew, we read the detail that “they were so savage that no one could travel by that road” (Matthew 8:28). Jesus’ cure is like a resurrection to life, making him free from the tombs. The demons are sent into unclean animals, the pigs, and this evil is promptly destroyed. The townspeople come out to see what had happened, and rather than welcoming Jesus as a healer and the conqueror of evil, the gospel says “they were seized with fear,” and St. Luke repeats, they “asked Jesus to leave them because they were seized with great fear” (Luke 8:35.37).
Of what were they afraid, that their commodity (the pigs) had been destroyed, or that the demoniac man was still possessed by demons? We often “demonize” and “dehumanize” what we fear. We, too, are God-fearing, when we approach Holy Communion the deacon warns, “Approach with the fear of God and with faith.” The townspeople were afraid and asked Jesus to leave, but a true “fear of God,” which is expressed in faith and love, draws us nearer to God in Communion.
The Lord can free us from evil, so approach and receive him who told us, “Take courage, for I have conquered the world” (John 16:33).
Meditation by Archpriest David Petras
#ByzantineCatholicNewHaven
From a 2016 sermon of His Beatitude Sviatoslav of Kyiv and Halych:
We invite everyone to a farewell reception for our wounded soldier Kostya Shkapoyed and his wife Iryna. The reception will be in St. Michael’s Church hall 569 George St, New Haven on Sunday, October 27th at 12:00 noon. Kostya’s treatment at Yale has been completed and he and Iryna are returning to Ukraine. Let’s give him a nice send off and wish him and Iryna well as they return home.
UNWLA #108 invites all women to a coffee social on Sunday, October 27, 2019 after each Divine Liturgy at St. Michael’s Ukrainian church hall to meet current members and others who may be interested in continuing the vital work of the local, regional, and national Ukrainian women’s organization.
The 2019 Holodomor Remembrance in New York City will take place on Saturday, November 16