Dear in Christ Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the Resurrection of the Lord as well as the feastday of the Martyr Panteleimon!

In today’s Gospel reading we heard the famous story about how Jesus Christ walked on the water. In this reading the apostles, who were labouring on their little ship on the stormy sea and in complete darkness of night, were losing all hope. They were losing hope because they were separated from the Saviour, separated from Him who has power over the forces of nature. It seemed to them that their end had come. Their strength had vanished, they were soaked to the bone, they were freezing, their boat was filling with water. They had put their trust in their strength and their knowledge, but on this night it was not enough to save them. They needed help from Jesus, but He wasn’t there.

We also experience similar situations. Some kind of misfortune befalls us and we’re called to use all of our strength and talents to remedy the situation. Sometimes we’re successful, while at other times it seems we’ll never climb out of the hole. Problems multiply and there is no end in sight.

When the apostles found themselves in such a situation, their Teacher came to them walking on water. At first they were confused and frightened because they didn’t recognize Him, but later they must have been overjoyed. Peter showed his special relationship with Jesus Christ and asked to go to Him and begins in miraculous fashion to walk on the water. When he noticed the stormy weather he doubted and began to sink. Christ grabbed him and when they entered the ship, the wind calmed down and everyone was saved.

When we begin to drown in our worldly problems, let’s remember how Christ saved his friends. Let’s remember how unexpectedly He appeared to them. Let’s address Him with the words of the Apostle Peter and say, "Lord, save me!" In such instances let’s not rely solely on ourselves. Let’s diligently look for God’s help around us. The apostles did not immediately recognize Christ. It was pitch dark, they were themselves under extreme stress, all of their attention was focused on staying alive and the Lord Himself came in such an unexpected manner. Therefore it is not surprising that they didn’t recognize Him and were even frightened. In our own moments of trouble, we also may miss, not even noticing this, the outstretched helping hand of our Lord. This may happen because we rely too much on ourselves and are not sufficiently attentive to the grace of the Holy Spirit around us. It sometimes happens that the Lord sends help or gives us a way out, but we don’t notice this because it is so unexpected. Sometimes we are even frightened by this help and reject it. As an example of this, we can remember those disagreements we have personally had in our families, at work or at church which continued, worsened and appeared to us to be without a resolution. Despite this, we often ignore the helping hand of the Lord that would resolve everything, i. e. humility, silence and repentance. Perhaps this happens because we are so full of pride that we don’t even notice that these steps could fix everything. The apostles didn’t even consider that Christ could come to them walking on water, but that is exactly what He did. Through the prayers of these Holy Apostles, may our Lord God soften our hardened hearts and make out of them precise spiritual instruments, able to easily see the outstretched helping hand of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which, without a doubt, is always ready to support us.

priest Alexis