His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel said on Sunday, at the consecration of the Diocesan Cathedral in Oradea, that churches are places where we learn the mystery of the Cross and the Resurrection. The cross plan of our churches also shapes the community of believers present in a cross facing the altar of Sacrifice and Resurrection, on which the Divine Liturgy is celebrated, the patriarch added.
The day’s gospel reading “shows us that taking up the Cross and following Christ are the way of salvation or the acquisition of eternal life,” Patriarch Daniel said.
The Saviour Jesus Christ said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
“This gospel reading is very short in terms of the text, but it is very important for the life of the Church in general and for the life of every Christian in particular,” said the patriarch September 20.
He mentioned that self-denial and following Christ means:
- the transformation of selfish and possessive love into merciful and generous love;
- the crucifixion of one’s selfishness by restraining oneself from sins and by enduring troubles, sufferings, trials, injustices;
- to believe in Christ, to pray to Christ and to fulfil the commandments of Christ’s love: love for God and for one’s fellows.
The purpose of the approach is “to transform the Cross into a ladder to the Resurrection and to transform suffering into victory through the help that comes from the crucified and risen Christ,” the Patriarch explained.
The church, space where we feel the mystery of the Cross and the Resurrection
The appropriate place we are helped to walk this path is the Church: “The space in which we learn the most and feel the most the power of the grace of the Most Holy Trinity, the love of Christ that helps us transform suffering and loneliness into hope and communion, this space is the Church. ”
“Therefore, with God’s help, today, on the Sunday after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we will celebrate the consecration of the cathedral dedicated to the Resurrection of the Lord,” he added.
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel also said that, through the marks of the crucifixion preserved in His risen body, “Christ the Lord teaches us that the Cross is never separated from the Resurrection and the Resurrection from the Cross. Because in the very humble love of His Cross lies the power of His Resurrection.”
That is why, on Easter night, the Resurrection of the Lord is proclaimed by the gesture of raising the cross in front of all, to which is added the lighted candle and the exclamation: Christ is risen!
“The resurrection is the glory of the humble love of the Holy Cross,” concluded the Patriarch. “So the mystery of the Cross and Resurrection is the essential mystery of every church, every place of worship, but also of the life of every Christian because through baptism we are crucified with Christ and we rise together with Christ.”
On the Way of the Cross, we can only walk with the help of Christ
It is a path we can only walk with the Lord: “Christ asks us to follow Him and follow Him to receive His help. No one can fulfil the gospel of Christ without the help of Christ. ‘Without Me, you can do nothing.’ That is, nothing good, says the Saviour.”
“The place, space where we feel the mystery of the Cross and the Resurrection of Christ is the Holy Church”, added the Patriarch of Romania.
At the end, he told those present at the ceremony that they would be sprinkled after consecration service “with the same holy water with which the cathedral was consecrated, because” the content of this wall church is the Church of Christ as a community. And the community, when the church is full, takes the form of the church, the form of the cross directed to the Resurrection,” His Beatitude stressed.
