“In this world, we live in, floods of bad news come day and night: pandemics, death, poverty, wars, crisis and so on. So let us rejoice today!” urged the patriarchal auxiliary bishop Varlaam of Ploiești on the Feast of the Annunciation.
“We Christians must rejoice unceasingly for two thousand years because there is no better news, no greater news, no brighter news than this,” the Patriarchal Auxiliary Bishop said in his homily at Saint Anthony Church of the Old Princely Court in Bucharest.
The hierarch recalled the moment when the Virgin Mary received the good news that she would give birth to Jesus Christ and detailed that “on today’s feast, the Mother of God brings us the news that our road to death is over” and that “the Holy One who will be born of her, through His saving work, will give us eternal life and prepare us for a new earth and a new heaven in which there will be no more death.”
“No matter what we have to endure in life, our life does not end at the grave. Today brings us the news that God loves us with an everlasting love, that He wants to share His eternal life with us mortal humans. He wants us to be citizens of His Kingdom, which the Archangel told us today will never end.”
“Therefore, let us free ourselves from worries, from anxieties, especially from the fear of death!”
“Whatever happens, if we listen to His word and believe in God the Father who sent Him into the world, we share in His eternal life and become heirs of the kingdom of heaven. This depends on us. Of course, we will be judged, but the judgment will only result from what we have chosen in our short, fleeting and troubled lives. We have been promised eternal life.”
“Those who, in complete freedom, choose to deny themselves and follow Christ will be numbered on the Day of Judgment at the right hand of the Saviour, among the multitude of the saved for whom heaven was created from the beginning of the world. And in hell, which is not made for humans but for devils, will be those who, in complete freedom, have refused Christ’s call, have ignored His presence, His word, His love, and have lived in separation from God.”
“Therefore, beloved believers, great is the joy of this day! Let us live it to the full,” Bishop Varlaam urged on March 25, 2022.
At the end, Patriarch Daniel’s delegate gave the clergy and faithful “a word of blessing from the Archpastor of our Church, a word of boldness, of courage in these troubled times, of hope in God’s love and power and His work for our salvation.”
The patriarchal auxiliary bishop congratulated Fr Gheorghe Zaharia on the 17th anniversary of his appointment as parish priest.
Saint Anthony Church of the Old Princely Court, Patriarchal Chapel, is the oldest church in Bucharest. The patronal feast of the Annunciation was given by the ruler prince Mircea Ciobanul in 1559.
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