“Only after you believe that God can help you can you take the first step on the path of renewal and salvation,” His Grace Iachint of the Pacific, Assistant Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Australia and New Zealand, said on Sunday at St Mary Romanian Orthodox Parish in Wellington, New Zealand.
Reflecting on the Gospel reading for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, the bishop highlighted the relationship among faith, prayer, and fasting, explaining that they are the means by which Christians can struggle against their passions and renew their lives.
“The moment we desire to grow spiritually before God, when our goal is to renounce the evils, passions and vices that constantly consume us, demanding to be satisfied and with which we continually struggle.”
Referring to Christ’s words, “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting,” the bishop explained that authentic fasting aims at transforming the inner person.
“Christians have at their disposal three pillars, three means, three virtues that give them the divine strength to be transformed.”
“The Lord Christ came into the world to teach us what we must do in order to be saved, but also to save us Himself through His sacrifice on the Cross and His Resurrection from the dead.”
Prayer, our constant communion with God
Bishop Iachint emphasised the close relationship between faith and prayer, describing prayer as a living dialogue that “keeps us united and connected with God.”
“Remaining in communion with Him, we will enter eternity in the same communion that we begin to acquire, desire and seek while still on this earth.”
The assistant bishop also explained that bodily fasting helps people understand that material possessions are not the ultimate purpose of life.
“Alongside prayer, we also need fasting, this voluntary renunciation of material things. In essence, fasting means abstaining from material goods, not to prove something to others, but so that we ourselves may realise that our physical, moral and spiritual well-being is not improved by the material things with which we surround ourselves.”
“All the possessions we have certainly help us, but they are not the essence of our happiness. Still less should we consider them the purpose for which we live, work and devote all our efforts each day,” he added.
Christ gives the strength to overcome our passions
Reflecting on Christ’s healing of the demon-possessed boy, Bishop Iachint said the miracle also illustrates the struggle every Christian wages against personal passions.
“Christ rebuked His disciples because they failed to realise that, by being with Him, they already had access to the full power of His divinity. We are God’s children; we are children of the Gospel. Like those apostles whom the Lord corrected, we too have the strength to transform our lives as we desire and to raise our souls from every misery.”
“With that same faith and strength, we too must command the vices that enslave us and the passions that trouble us and consume our energy and our lives—those things that destroy friendships and even families—to depart from our lives through the power of Christ and never return,” the bishop said.
Bishop Iachint concluded by saying that the Gospel message becomes a living reality whenever people commit themselves to following Christ’s words.
“We need to ask questions, to seek Christ, and then we will also find the answers.”
Photo: Diocese of Australia and New Zealand
