To end with the Divine Liturgy celebrated today, 8 September 2013, in the Patriarchal Cathedral of Bucharest, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel spoke about <i>the importance of cultivating peace in the world and showed that peace is a blessing and a gift of God. </i>
“We pray the Mother of God to protect the entire Romanian people, to protect our country, our Church, the Church of Christ from one edge of the earth to the other and to bring reconciliation and peace first in the humans’ souls, because when there is no peace in the soul there is no peace in the family, people or between peoples. Today we prayed the Mother of God to bring peace, through her intercession to her Son, Christ, our Lord, the King of Peace, wherever it is war, threatening with war, feud and violence. <b>We prayed for peace all over the world, but especially for peace in Syria, Egypt, and Middle East where lots of Christians suffered because of conflicts and violence. </b>
Peace is a blessing of God, a gift of God, and just like all the gifts received from God it must be cultivated, protected and promoted, through prayer and education as well as through the spiritual effort to solve the issues emerged through dialogue and good understanding. We think much light is needed to become peace makers. Christ, our Lord, blesses the peace makers. The Church always prays for peace; during the Divine Liturgy the priest intercedes several times for the faithful the peace coming from Christ. Peace comes from Christ, but the priest conveys it to the faithful present through the work of the Holy Spirit”, the Patriarch of Romania said.
<b>Peace is badly needed, and so is merciful love </b>
“The Church tries, by words and deeds, according to her abilities, to show that we cannot save ourselves unless we try to help those around us. We gather in our souls as much love as we can show to those around us. Peace is badly needed, and so is merciful love, not possessive love, but altruist, which can be acquired not only by one’s will but also by effort, endeavour, prayer, fasting and request addressed to God to bless our life. We often see that there is violence and trouble because we pray less, because we do not gather in our soul the peace coming from God. This is why we pray especially the Mother of God who is the joy and reconciliation of the world – as our religious chants say – to bring peace, protection and, as much as possible, harmony in the family, to the people, and among people nowadays”, His Beatitude said.
On this day when the Church celebrates the Birth of the Mother of God, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the Patriarchal Cathedral by His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
