When Saint Photini met Christ at the well in the heat of the day, her heart was totally exposed to Him. In her dialogue with God, she felt His love and grace instead of shame. She immediately went and invited everyone she knew, “Could this be the Christ?” They came and had the same experience. Now it is our turn to go and invite others to “Come and see Christ in the Church.”

Transcript:

My brothers and sisters, this is a beautiful day in the church, the day of the Samaritan woman, a day that the church celebrates Saint Fotini. Fotini was not a holy woman when she was living her life. She, like all of us, lived with sin. Although her life, we can understand from the gospel, she lived such a sinful life at the time that she had to go to the well at noon in the heat of the day because that’s the only time nobody would be there to encounter her. Imagine the shame that she must have experienced having to endure the heat of high noon just to avoid interacting with the people. That’s the kind of life that she lived. And when she encountered Christ, who knew she was going to be there, they begin having a dialogue. And Christ reveals to her, he tells her everything she ever did. Her heart was totally exposed. But instead of feeling shame, she felt the love from Christ.

And so, she went to the city and she said to everyone, “You’ve got to come out and see this man. He told me everything that I ever did. I think this guy might be the Messiah.” Imagine the experience she must have had for her entire heart to be opened to her by Christ, but not with shame, with love. And so, the city folk come out, and they begin talking to Jesus. And after a couple of days, they also believe that he is the Messiah. And they turn to Saint Fotini, “We came out here because you said something, but we no longer believe just because you said so. But because we have heard him.”

You see, my brothers and sisters, when any human being comes in contact with God, our hearts are exposed, and we feel God’s love. But if Saint Fotini had not gone to the city to tell her friends, “You’ve got to come check this guy out,” if she had remained silent, if she had kept it a secret, then the entire city would have gone through life having never met Jesus Christ. Imagine the shame of it, how unfortunate it would have been for that entire city, just because Saint Fotini may have kept it a secret. But thank God she went out and she told everybody.

Now, it’s our turn. We have had our hearts exposed by Christ. I know it because I hear people who come to me and from one experience or another inside the church, divine liturgy, oftentimes, in holy confession. And I’ve seen with my own eyes what happens when someone experiences the grace and love of Jesus Christ as a healing power in what has taken place in their life. And I’m here to tell you that I feel very blessed having been blessed to hear confessions for so many years. There’s just about nothing I’ve never heard, and yet, when I see someone standing in front of the icon of Christ, feeling his grace and love, it inspires me to go another day.

This is our job, my brothers and sisters, to be like Saint Fotini, to go and tell everyone we know that there’s a better hope out there for them. And it doesn’t matter what anyone has ever done in their life. Saint Fotini, among other things, had five husbands, and she was living with a man who wasn’t her husband, and still, Christ extended to her, the grace and love. This is our great opportunity so that others can come and hear Christ for themselves, to come and be in his physical presence and to have a meeting with him like she did at the well. Lucky for us, we have air conditioning. We don’t have to worry about the heat of the day. Well, we normally have air conditioning. Today, we have air conditioning, but God is waiting. Let’s do our part to go and tell the city, “Come and see Christ. Feel His love and grace.” And I promise you, they too will believe because God is great, and God loves us, and he wants only the best for us.