On Sunday, Patriarchal Auxiliary Bishop Paisie of Sinaia underscored the increasingly prevalent lifestyle that appears successful but conceals genuine crises, interior emptiness, and a lack of meaning during his sermon at the Chapel of the National Cathedral, alluding to the Gospel reading from Matthew.

Bishop Paisie noted that Christ insists three times in the mentioned Gospel text: “Do not worry about your life…, Do not worry about what you will eat, what you will drink, what you will wear, do not worry about tomorrow!”

“The words of the Lord sound like a healing balm,” the hierarch noted.

“This, however, is not an invitation to ignore what is happening around us or to become indifferent to our daily occupations and responsibilities. On the contrary, it is a challenge to open our priorities to a broader horizon of meaning,” His Grace explained.

The Patriarchal Auxiliary Bishop pointed out that we often worry too much because we think that all life achievements are earned only through our own efforts: “We often forget that essential things like health, strength, sight, hearing, all our senses, and even our life, are received through God’s power. They are not the fruit of our efforts!”

“Christ the Saviour does not tell us that basic necessities, such as food and clothing, are not important; rather, He invites us to reconsider our daily choices, so we do not remain trapped or isolated in the obsession with material things, the pursuit of success at any cost, even at the cost of losing our soul.”

A Competition with Devastating Effects

“Today, although we consider that we have evolved and live in a modern society, due to excessive concern for material things, due to the worldly attitude that seeks and pursues only personal profit or benefit in this world, due to the selfishness that demands individual happiness, a competition is created, a competition with devastating effects, which instead of the happiness we chase, subtly and treacherously makes us unhappy and enslaved.”

“We often see how, under the impeccable image of many young people today, of many so-called successful people, dressed in suits, in a continuous race with fashion, with expensive phones and cars, working in offices located in luxurious buildings, we see how under this beautiful image, like a gift wrapping, there are real dramas, leading to severe symptoms of depersonalization, dehumanization, depression, anxiety. All these as an effect of our estrangement from God, from family, from authentic values, from what is essential.”

The Void in the Soul

“And even if sometimes we feel moments of delight, of intoxication, of illusory satisfaction, believing we have achieved happiness, we will end up, in fact, becoming slaves, dependent, and unhappy. We will never be truly satisfied. We will always be dissatisfied, always unfulfilled, always obliged to seek more and more,” Bishop Paisie added.

Why? “Because this relentless search, this void in our souls, cannot be filled with material things, it cannot be filled with what we eat or drink, it cannot be covered with what we wear, nor with vices or sins. In fact, sins only deepen the void in our souls.”

“This restless search within us, in our souls, is actually more than we imagine; it is the longing for God planted in the human soul from creation. Because God created man in His image, in the image of God He made him! And only our communion with God rests our soul, calms us, fulfils us.”

His Grace concluded that Christ the Saviour calls us today to a higher way of life that leads to eternal life.

“He teaches us to seek the essential, to free ourselves from so many useless worries that suffocate us. He teaches us to detach ourselves from the obsessive desire for wealth, from the idolized and then wasted money. He teaches us to put Him, Christ, first in our lives. He can free us from all the cares of life and the idolatries that enslave us.”

“It is not an easy path, but Christ the Lord assures us of His grace, offers us His help, and never leaves us alone,” said Bishop Paisie.

Photo: Marius Costin

Follow us on X.com: @BasilicaNews