His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel on Sunday underscored the responsibility Christians bear toward those in distress, saying that “our salvation depends on our attitude toward them.”
Patriarch Daniel attended the Divine Liturgy celebrated in the historic chapel of St. George at the Patriarchal Residence in Bucharest, where he reflected on the Gospel reading of the Sunday of the Last Judgment, emphasising the centrality of compassion and charity.
“No one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven by bypassing their neighbour who is suffering,” he said. “At the gates of the Kingdom will stand as witnesses for us those who received our help in times of need, as well as those who did not receive it from us, who were forgotten, ignored, despised or turned away.”
The universal judgment – complete, final and awe-inspiring
The Patriarch of Romania explained why the universal judgment is described as complete, definitive and fearsome.
“God’s judgment of a person immediately after death, or the particular judgment, is incomplete and provisional,” he said, noting that it occurs through the illumination of conscience, which in an instant recalls all deeds, good and evil.
By contrast, the final or universal judgment is “complete and definitive.” It is also awe-inspiring “through its cosmic context, its solemn form and its surprising content.”
He cited the Gospel description of cosmic upheaval preceding the Last Judgment: “The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken,” describing it as a collapse of the physical universe.
The final judgment is solemn, he added, because Jesus Christ will come “in glory and great power, together with all the angels, to judge all nations.”
It is also startling in content, the Patriarch said, because neither the merciful nor the unmerciful can fully grasp how Christ is mystically present in “the hungry and the thirsty, the stranger and the poor, the naked, the sick and the imprisoned.”
The hidden link between Christ’s humility and His glory
Patriarch Daniel highlighted what he called the mysterious bond between Christ’s humility and His glory.
“His humility is shown in His respect for human freedom, and His glory is revealed in the just reward of merciful love toward others,” he said.
“God is so humble that He allows Himself to be rejected and forgotten. He respects human freedom to such an extent that His presence is hidden in the poorest and most suffering people, those who live on the edge between life and death,” the Patriarch said, adding that this hidden presence of Christ in the needy will be revealed at the universal judgment.
He stressed that Christ, “the Lord of Glory and Judge of the world,” calls Himself brother to “the least and most vulnerable,” revealing in His own person the deep connection between unfathomable humility and all-merciful, all-powerful love.
Call to humility, repentance and merciful love
Concluding his sermon, Patriarch Daniel urged humility, repentance and acts of mercy as Lent approaches.
“Let us unite humble prayer and sincere repentance with merciful love, showing both spiritual and material charity toward those in need,” he said.
Spiritual charity, he explained, may include praying for the suffering, offering sound counsel or encouragement to the discouraged, and visiting the sick or the isolated. Material charity may consist of providing food for the hungry, clothing for those without it, medicine for the ill and financial assistance for the poor.
Photo: Lumina Newspaper
