By “invitation of His Beatitude Sviatoslav and embark together on a pilgrimage towards Pentecost… to proclaim the Good News of Christ’s Gospel to all who seek to hear the Word of God.” The Ukrainian Byzantine Church, indeed, all churches ought to be prayerfully engaged during these days with intense personal prayer and mission (action) for the sake of building up the Body of Christ –the Church on various levels. Personal conversion to Christ is paramount.
The Ukrainian Synod of Bishops proposes to us: “Through our active participation in the spiritual efforts of these ten Mission Days, once again we are called upon to discover and understand anew that our parish communities and families (domestic churches) are missionary in nature. Such understanding flows from the gift of our Baptism, by virtue of which, and through the power of its mystery, we have committed ourselves to believe, live, serve, and share the experience of our faith in Christ; and not simply with our family members, but with everyone we meet in life. Thus, the mission of our parish community is to allow Christ to enter deeper into our lives, to carry the Good News beyond our own community and to support those who expand the boundaries of the Kingdom of God with their missionary activity and chaplaincy ministry.
“From the feast of the Ascension to Pentecost, together with our entire parish community, let us pray that the Lord might renew our life in God by the grace and intercession of the Holy Spirit.
“If circumstances do not allow your parish to conduct Mission Days during the week or if you personally cannot participate in them, you are invited to observe Mission Days in your own home, setting aside at least five minutes of family time in order to read … [what follows] (Word of God, Meditation, Quotation-witness, Prayer), and then to discuss among yourselves the Missionary Tasks provided for each day. Another possibility is to observe Mission Days in a prayerful gathering together with other families, with your neighbors, for example.
Good and Gentle God, we pray in gratitude for our mothers and for all the women of theory who have joined with you in the wonder of bringing forth new life. You who became human through a woman, grant to all mothers the courage they need to face the uncertain future that life with children always brings.
The theme of baptism continues in this Sunday’s Gospel, re-affirming that Pascha is a feast of resurrection and of baptism, being born into eternal life. The center of Jesus’ conversation with this unnamed woman (the Church later gave her the name Photine, the “enlightened woman”) is about water. They met at Jacob’s well, a place of great tradition, a sign and a promise of God’s love and mercy for his people. Jacob’s well provided the riches of water to a desert place, the sign that God would always provide for and bless his people. However, the encounter with the woman reveals something more: Jesus is the Messiah to come, he is greater than the Patriarch Jacob. The water of Jacob’s well is only for this world, Jesus would give “the water that would become a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:14)” This clearly refers to our baptisms, as it comes immediately after the comparison of Jesus with John the Baptist, and the baptisms done by Jesus’ disciples.