Today, 14 July 2013, more than 300 faithful attended the Divine Liturgy celebrated at Saint Mary Monastery – Techirghiol, which is a patriarchal stavropighia (a monastery of a different eparchy subordinated to the Romanian Patriarchate). The joy of the faithful was increased by the presence of the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel addressed all those present a sermon in which he explained the evangelical pericope scheduled to be read at the Divine Liturgy. <\/p>\n
The Divine Liturgy was celebrated by His Grace Ioachim Bacauanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Roman and Bacau. His Eminence Calinic, Archbishop of Arges and Calinic was also present. <\/p>\n
His Beatitude said in the sermon delivered that the Holy Gospel of the 3rd Sunday after the Pentecost shows us the true meaning of the Christian life and how we must live as free men from a spiritual point of view. Starting from the words of Jesus Christ, our Lord: “If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness”, His Beatitude explained that the eye spiritually means the man’s mind or conscience. “If the man’s mind or conscience is pure, then all man’s life and everything he does is full of light. But, if the conscience is full of selfish passions, wickedness, or evil things done to other people, then the whole life is full of darkness”, His Beatitude said. The Patriarch of Romania has also underlined the fact that today’s Gospel shows us that we, the humans, should rid of the excessive worry for our biological life. Jesus Christ, our Lord shows us, in fact, the meaning of the entire Gospel, namely: Wish the Kingdom of God, first of all, and His justice and all these material things, as food, drink and clothing will be given to you, explained His Beatitude. <\/p>\n
“This obsession for the temporary material things becomes slavery, and Christ, our Lord, wants to release us of this slavery through today’s Gospel, saying: Wish the Kingdom of God first of all and all the other things will be given to you. Let us wish first to get what is not temporary but eternal. Food, drinks and clothes are all temporary things, they are consumed, they are perishable, and clothes are worn out. What will be eternal is what man gathered in his soul as light through this relationship with God, through the morning, noon and night prayers, through the lecture of the Holy Scriptures, through the Holy Sacraments administrated and all the good deeds done. This is the coat of the soul and food of the soul – it is the holiness which stems from the permanent relationship of man with God. Even if man is not kneeling down, but always thinking of God, when he is working, in the garden, at his office or wherever he may be, he is looking for the Kingdom of God first of all”, the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church said. <\/p>\n
His Beatitude has also explained what the Kingdom of Heaven is and underlined the fact that we receive, in this world, in the Church, the foretaste of the Kingdom of God, and at the second coming of Jesus Christ, our Lord, He will give the complete happiness of the Kingdom of Heaven to the body and soul resurrected. <\/p>\n
“The Kingdom of God is the love of the Most Holy Trinity where all the saints of all times and the angels participate in an eternal light. Because Christ, the King of heaven, the Son of the eternal God was made man out of love for humans and for their salvation and came into the world, and because the King of Heaven was made man and lived among humans the Kingdom came close to us and is given as a foretaste now, in advance, through the words of Christ, our Saviour, through His Gospel and through the Holy Sacraments. We receive the foretaste of the Kingdom of God in this world, in the Church. Now, the Kingdom is given as foretaste, and at the second coming of Jesus Christ, our Saviour – when He comes to judge the living and the dead and whose Kingdom will have no end – He will give the full happiness of the Kingdom of Heaven to the soul resurrected from the dead. Saint Paul the Apostle says, in the Epistle to the Romans, that “the Kingdom of Heaven is not eating and drinking, but justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”, explained the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church.<\/p>\n
The Patriarch of Romanian Orthodox Church has also shown in his sermon the importance of prayer for reaching the Kingdom of Heaven: “When man really prays, in the church or at home, he mysteriously feels the presence of the Kingdom of God in his heart. If while praying or afterwards he feels peace and joy in his soul, he feels that the Kingdom of God is given him as a foretaste which makes him wish it even more. This is why people, who feel peace and joy in their soul when praying, wish to pray even more till they reach permanent prayer.”<\/p>\n
“Let us pray Jesus Christ, our Saviour, the Mother of God and all saints to give us the spiritual light or mind to understand that everything that was created by God was done out of love and that God calls us to eternal love for which we prepare here through prayer and good deeds for the glory of the Most Holy Trinity and for our salvation”, His Beatitude also said. <\/p>\n
To end with, the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church congratulated abbess Lucia Rosu and the entire monastic community for the social missionary activity they develop at the holy monastery and offered a set of theological liturgical books for the holy altar and for the library of the monastic settlement. <\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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