His Grace Bishop Ignatie of Huși said that technology is a blessing from God, comparing the action of the Holy Spirit to a system restart on a digital device.
In a sermon delivered in Bacău on the Sunday of the Romanian Saints, Bishop Ignatie used a modern metaphor to help younger generations understand the work of the Holy Spirit in human life.
“I always use this illustrative comparison. We live in the digital age, and we all use these devices – phones, laptops, computers – which we enjoy, since technology is a blessing from God,” said the bishop.
“When something malfunctions on one of our devices, our first instinct, because we’re somewhat tech-savvy, is to restart the whole device,” he continued.
“If that doesn’t work, we call in a specialist to reinstall the entire operating system, making it almost new – just like when it came from the factory. It becomes like new, with a fresh system, functioning better,” Bishop Ignatie added.
God Reveals the Beauty and Goodness Within Us
Christ brings to light qualities we didn’t even know we had, the hierarch emphasized.
“Likewise, when the grace of the Holy Spirit visits us, we are ‘restarted’ – we become new people, and our internal ‘operating system’ functions differently from how it worked before God called us, in His perfect authenticity, to discover what is most beautiful and wonderful in our lives.”
“That’s why we love God – because He reveals in us things we might not have even been aware of: beauty, goodness, all the potential He placed in us. But we, foolish and distracted by the maze and carousel of this life, fail to rediscover ourselves,” Bishop Ignatie added.
The Authentic Calling of God
The bishop said the Romanian Saints, like the Holy Apostles, answered Christ’s irresistible and authentic call.
“God’s callings are always authentic – I know I’m almost being redundant, because anything that comes from God cannot be anything but authentic. Christ’s calling to the apostles was so irresistible, so deeply touching, that they couldn’t refuse it. They felt it fulfilled them completely.”
His Grace encouraged the faithful to respond to God as the Apostles did:
“How wonderful it would be if, in our own lives, when the Lord calls us, when He touches our souls, when He illuminates our lives and so beautifully adorns our souls, we would feel all of that deeply and follow Him without hesitation or needing any extra explanations.”
On the Sunday of the Romanian Saints, Bishop Ignatie concelebrated the Divine Liturgy with Archbishop Ioachim of Roman and Bacău at the parish dedicated to the “Three Holy Hierarchs” and “All Romanian Saints” in the city of Bacău.
Photo: Archdiocese of Roman and Bacău
