Today, August 27, 2023, on the 12th Sunday after Pentecost, Orthodox Christians participated in the Holy and Divine Liturgy in the Nativity of the Lord Cathedral. The Gospel fragment from St. Matthew the Evangelist was read (chapter 19, verses 16-26), which presents us with the encounter of the Saviour Jesus Christ with a rich young man who asks the Lord an essential question – what shall I do to gain eternal life?
On this Sunday, His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir celebrated the Holy and Divine Liturgy at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Nativity of the Lord in Chisinau.
The Primate was accompanied by the Metropolitan Secretary and Cathedral Dean, Archpriest Vadim Cheibaș, together with the priests present.
From today’s Gospel reading we learn first of all that without God’s help we cannot be saved. With our own strength, no matter how hard we try, no matter how much we think we are doing good deeds and fulfilling God’s commandments, we can do nothing. Without Me you can do nothing, says the Lord. With His help, with God’s grace working and changing people’s lives we have hope of salvation. From today’s Gospel we must also remember that we must be good like God.
Only God is truly Good and we must always look to Him, to be like Him in the work we do for those around us. Goodness that is in the image of God changes the world we live in and if we see more and more evil and more and more tension and problems in the world, it is because people do not look and relate to the good and merciful, the caring and loving God.
Synodal Sector of Communication and Mass-media Relations