Patriarch Daniel: We are called to rise prayers of thanksgiving for the gift of life

Aurelian Iftimiu – Basilica News Agency – 19/1/17

Our Saviour Jesus Christ does not call blessed those who are unthankful, but those who are grateful and thank God for the bounties they receive from Him, the Patriarch of Romania said Sunday.

The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church delivered a homily after the Divine Liturgy, celebrated January 15 at St Gregory the Enlightener Chapel of the Patriarchal Residence, on the Sunday of the Ten Lepers, focusing on the importance of gratitude.

The Patriarch said that lepers suffered much because of solitude and humiliation, and those who were healed of their sickness had to present themselves to the priests.

Our Saviour Jesus Christ met the ten lepers who were excluded from the community and lived away from people, being forbidden to touch their fellow people, because their illness was serious and was easily transmitted.

Leprous people in the Old Testament were kept in solitary confinement away from healthy people, the Patriarch said, because their incurable disease caused gradual decomposition.

Being isolated, lepers suffered much from solitude and humiliation, the Patriarch explained, having the obligation to cry out “Unclean! Unclean!” (Leviticus 13:45) so that healthy people would not come close.

If some of them were miraculously healed by God’s mercy and their strong faith, then they had to present themselves to the priests. Priests had precise knowledge about the signs of disease manifestation and could determine whether the disease was leprosy or other medical condition. They also could determine whether a person was definitely cured of leprosy.

Only when we go through tribulation, illnesses or temptations, we ask the help of God more fervently, the Patriarch noted, saying that as soon as we get rid of suffering, poverty or trouble, we tend to forget God.

Our Saviour Jesus Christ does not call blessed those who are unthankful, but those who are grateful and thank God for the bounties they receive from Him. A faithful and respectable person thanks constantly to God for living in God’s creation and uses it; he uses the air, the water, the earth, sun’s heat and everything created by God to sustain human life.

We ought to show gratitude and thanksgiving towards God and our fellow people for the bounties that we receive, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel said.

On the Sunday of the ten lepers, we are called to show gratitude, to rise prayers of thanksgiving to the Most Holy Trinity for the gift of our life, for our health and all the help that we have received in our life.

Ending his address, His Beatitude urged the faithful to thank everyone who convey to us God’s blessing and love.

Photo Credit: Lumina Newspaper

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