{"id":185517,"date":"2018-01-02T13:53:12","date_gmt":"2018-01-02T11:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=185517"},"modified":"2018-01-02T13:53:12","modified_gmt":"2018-01-02T11:53:12","slug":"let-us-spiritualise-the-time-of-our-life-patriarch-daniel-urges-during-2018-first-divine-liturgy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/let-us-spiritualise-the-time-of-our-life-patriarch-daniel-urges-during-2018-first-divine-liturgy\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Let us spiritualise the time of our life,\u2019 Patriarch Daniel urges during 2018 first Divine Liturgy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Let us spiritualise the time of our life, let us grow in wisdom and grace before God and our fellows. Let us show the light of faith, good deeds and especially merciful love to those around us,\u2019 Patriarch Daniel urged the faithful during the Divine Liturgy celebrated at the Patriarchal Cathedral on the first day of the year.<\/h4>\n

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania presided over the New Year\u2019s Divine Liturgy having as concelebrants his patriarchal assistant, Bishop Varlaam of Ploiesti, and the Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Bucharest, His Grace Bishop Timotei of Prahova.<\/p>\n

In his homily, the patriarch focused on the three feasts commemorated on January 1: The circumcision of our Lord, Saint Basil the Great and the civil New Year.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the fact that infants underwent circumcision as a sign of God\u2019s covenant with the holy Forefather Abraham and his descendants, Patriarch Daniel said that the Lord underwent circumcision for three reasons: (1) so that later no one would doubt that He had truly assumed human flesh, and that His Incarnation was not merely an illusion, as certain heretics had taught; (2) to explain that He has not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it; (3) to conclude this ritual of the Old Law and to open a new, superior reality: the circumcision of the heart by the Spirit<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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