Feast Day filled with joy

at the Nativity of the Mother of God Parish in Gatineau

On Sunday, September 10, His Grace Bishop Ioan Casian was present in the Nativity of the Mother of God Parish in Gatineau on its feast day. Fr. Ciprian Augustin Purcarea - parish priest and Fr. Aurel Sas served alongside the hierarch. The answers at strana were given by the psaltic group led by Mihaela Tudorache.

In the sermon at the end of the Holy Liturgy, the hierarch spoke about the importance of the Holy Cross and the Nativity of the Mother of God:

"The feast of your parish - the Nativity of the Mother of God and the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross are placed at the beginning of the ecclesiastical year. They guide our way of being for a whole year. (...) This Sunday preceding the Exaltation of the Holy Cross prepares us for the coming celebration. It is the feast that marks the moment when Empress Helen finds part of the Holy Cross on which Christ was crucified."

Further, the hierarch emphasized the way in which the Apostle of the Gentiles understands the Cross and its help in our way to becoming the new creature:

"St. Paul the Apostle speaks in the Epistle to the Galatians about the work to which he is called. There is nothing in which I can ‘boast, except only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified to me, and I to the world!’ (Galatians 6, 14). The cross is our asceticism that we do during our life against passions, evils and against everything that we encounter negatively in this world.

There is a world of beauty - of the sunrise and the sunset, of the moment when we contemplate walking in nature the plants, animals, birds and that delight us with their beauty and amaze us with the complexity of the world they make up which directs our thinking of God ; but in the same world today there are wars, conflicts, famines, poverty, wickedness, periods of loss and disorientation, of turmoil and confusion because of the ideologies that are being proposed to everyone. So, we have these two visions of the world - that of beauty and that of evil. What makes St. Paul resist the temptations of evil and keep the way of Christ is the cross of Christ. It reminds him of Christ's fight against evil. It helps him each time with the power of its grace and with the remembrance to become the ‘new creature’ (Galatians 6, 15). What does the new creature mean? It is the one who no longer does evil but only good."

Speaking about the evangelical pericope, the hierarch showed that the manner of fulfilling the saving plan was done by God considering man's freedom and responsibility:

"St. John the Evangelist shows what is the center of our Christian life. If we have eternal life, it is because Someone came down from heaven, and this One is the Son of God. The forgiveness of our sins and the evil committed by the entire humanity and its correction were accomplished through the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. No matter how hard the people of the Old Testament - prophets, righteous, patriarchs, etc. – fought to set things right in the people, they realized that nothing can be accomplished without God's help, that the history of the Old Testament remains marked by sin.

The coming of Christ from heaven taking flesh from the Virgin Mary was done so that God could stand in solidarity with us to save, heal and set us free. This way chosen by God in redeeming us through the incarnation of the Virgin Mary gives us the opportunity to participate in this work of God freely and responsibly. Christ also says: ‘Whoever wants to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me’ (Mark 8, 34). Following Christ is not an obligation, but the responsibility for one's life and personal deeds is the same for the believer or the unbeliever. Man is created by God regardless of whether he believes or not and has the same divine mission. Life is not born out of nothing. It is given by God. We have the faith that we learn from the pages of Holy Scripture. We know that bodily life is born of the love between a man and a woman in marriage blessed by God. But we know that to this human seed God adds the soul without which life cannot exist.

Why did the sending of the Son of God to earth happen? For the love that God has for us humans and for His creation. Beyond sin, God looked at the world from eternity and wanted to redeem it from evil to see it bright and united with Him as He always wanted it."

The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the countless appearances of the resurrected Christ to the Holy Apostles are elements that strengthen and prove the solidity of the Christian faith, the hierarch said:

"The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross reminds us of the 'material traces' of our faith, of the crucifixion of Christ - that is, the Cross. It is given to us for edification and salvation.

The countless appearances of Christ - to Luke and Cleophas on the road to Emmaus, to Mary Magdalene in the Ghestimani garden, to more than 500 brothers on the shore of Lake Tiberias, etc. - prove to us by what the Apostles saw that Christ is truly risen.

Let us rejoice at the beginning of this ecclesiastical year that the Mother of God is with us through the celebration of her birth and accompanies us throughout it. The ecclesiastical year also ends with a major feast of the Mother of God - her dormition. This shows us that throughout our life we are under the protection of the Mother of God."

Further, the hierarch spoke about the joy of seeing so many young people come to this celebration, which shows that the Christian life of the parish is on the right path now and for the future.

Next, Fr. Aurel Sas spoke about his visit to parishes in Canada and about the books he came to spread and thus contribute to the spiritual work among people.

Fr. Ciprian Augustin Purcarea thanked the hierarch for the pastoral visit and invited the faithful to participate in the program prepared by the community.

Then followed a short music and popular dance program performed by the little ones under the guidance of Mihaela Amohnoaie and by the youth. The day ended with a popular celebration in which everyone presents participated.