“Only Christ saves the praying Church when she finds herself amid the stormy sea of history and in the darkness of times hostile to the light of the Gospel of salvation,” Patriarch Daniel emphasised on Sunday in his sermon on the Gospel reading of Christ calming the storm.
“No matter how many worthy ministers the Church may have, they alone cannot save Christ’s Church in her struggle against sin in human nature, against evil spirits, against the storms of persecution and heresy, against the waves of unbelief, secularisation or spiritual indifference. The Church can prevail only with Christ’s help, sought through prayer,” the Patriarch of Romania said.
The Gospel appointed for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, he explained, is one “of trial and struggle, but also of encouragement and victory. It shows us that deliverance from very difficult situations does not come from our own efforts alone, but first and foremost from God’s help.”
“The principal lesson, or holy wisdom, that Christ the Teacher offers His disciples—and through them to all of us—using the boat as a chair of theology for salvation, is this: every trial and hardship we encounter in life can be overcome for our spiritual benefit if we do not rely solely on our own strength but first entrust ourselves to the help that comes from God,” His Beatitude stressed.
Christ Allows Us to Pass Through Trials
Another lesson drawn from the day’s Gospel, the Patriarch said, is that the Lord Jesus Christ allowed His disciples to struggle alone in the boat against the storm so that they might understand how indispensable God’s help is to human beings.
“May the all-merciful God help us learn from this Gospel of the calming of the storm that Christ our Lord loves us, even when He sometimes allows us to endure overwhelming trials that we cannot understand while we are in the midst of them, but only later,” the Patriarch of Romania prayed.
“Although He may at times seem distant or even absent, Christ the Lord knows that we need His help and waits for us to go towards Him, even as He is constantly coming towards us.”
Giving Thanks After Every Achievement
Patriarch Daniel also reflected on Christ’s example of withdrawing in prayer after the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves.
“Why does He pray after performing the miracle? To teach us to give thanks to God for every achievement or success in our lives. Why does He pray in solitude? So as not to be praised by the crowds whom He had fed through the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, but also to devote Himself entirely to prayer to God the Father.”
“When Jesus prays as man to the Father in heaven in solitude, His heart is filled with the grace of the merciful love of the Heavenly Father—a love that Jesus then shares with humanity,” His Beatitude explained.
“By Jesus’ withdrawal into solitude after performing a miracle, we learn that after a great success or accomplishment, we should not seek praise or recognition from people. Rather, in silence, in the depths of our hearts, detached from the glory that comes from others, we should glorify God and thank Him for the help we have received.”
Prayer Gives Us Strength Born of Love
“Through prayer, humble and merciful love fills our souls, so that we do not go among people with empty hearts. The Lord Jesus did not perform miracles to impress people or to receive their praise, but because He had compassion on them, as the Gospel according to Matthew tells us in chapter 14, verse 14,” the Patriarch added.
“By praying to God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, as man, teaches us that the power of His merciful love—to gather, enlighten, heal and nourish the multitudes—comes from His intimate relationship with God the Father, from His humble and holy prayer to God.”
“Why? Because God is, in Himself, communication and communion of eternal life and love. God the Father communicates His divine being to the Son through begetting and to the Holy Spirit through procession, so that the Persons of the Holy Trinity mutually indwell one another and give themselves to one another in perfect love and communion,” the Patriarch of Romania concluded.
Patriarch Daniel attended the Divine Liturgy on Sunday at the historic St George Chapel of the Patriarchal Residence, where the service was celebrated by Archimandrite Andrei Anghel, Patriarchal Vicar. Archimandrite Lucian Bujor, Patriarchal Counsellor and Administrator of the Patriarchal Residence, also concelebrated.
Photo: Basilica.ro Files / Mircea Florescu (representative photo)
