His Grace Bishop Ioan Casian: The Holy Trinity is the mystery of our faith

On the feast of the Holy Trinity, His Grcae Bishop Ioan Casian was present on Monday, June 5 at the Cathedral Saint George in Saint-Hubert.

Alongside the hierarch celebrated the Divine Liturgy Protos. Maxim Morariu, Father Adrian Manea and deacon Valentin Boțu.

In the homily delivered on this occasion, the hierarch said: "Today's feast honors the mystery of our faith, which is the mystery of the Holy Trinity. It reminds us of the fact that the mystery in which we are integrated as people in the Church is the mystery of the Holy Trinity. We are made partakers to the work of divine life through the uncreated energies, through the grace of the Resurrection that we receive in the Church every time. The Church is nothing but the extension in this world of the resurrected humanity of Christ the Savior through the Holy Spirit. Thus, we can say that the Church is the humanity of the Redeemer Christ that extends into this world through us believers. We are called to become the resurrected humanity of Christ the Savior."

Then the hierarch explained how the Divine Liturgy contributes to this work:

"When we come to the Divine Liturgy, on the Holy Altar we have the bread and wine brought by the faithful, but which, following the prayer made by the clergy together with all the faithful for the descent of the Holy Spirit, they are transformed into the Body and Blood of the Savior that we partake of for salvation, for our restauration, transfiguration and resurrection. Being thus partakers of the resurrected humanity of Christ the Redeemer, we experience in anticipation our resurrection in the Kingdom of Heaven. Although we are full of weaknesses, although we see that the society in which we live is not always the most just one, yet God in His great mercy and love gives us every time in the Divine Liturgy this great gift of participating in the humanity of the resurrected Christ, to benefit from this medicine (pharmakon) against eternal death. In the Church we live this great call that God makes to us as people to climb the steps of the pilgrimage to Him, to return to the life of Heaven that He shared with us from the beginning and to acquire eternal life at the end of the ages."

The hierarch then spoke about the importance of love for God and what this means: "Today's Gospel says that the one who loves God, fulfills His commandments. Just as two people between whom there is friendship and sincere love are in a communion of values, they fulfill together the same things they love, they fulfill each other's words, even more so in the case of God and the love for Him. The measure of our love for God is the fulfillment of His words. This means that we really love God.”

Christ is the One who opens the way to the Kingdom of heaven said the Romanian primate of Canada: "The Gospel passage says something extraordinary - which is also the motto chosen by us as Diocese: 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.' This means that if we want to reach the Kingdom of God we can only make it to through Christ. The way we walk can only be founded on the truth of life in God. It cannot be built on lies and untruths. The whole Holy Trinity is the mystery of our salvation, and the One sent by the Father in the Holy Spirit to approach us through the humanity taken from the Virgin Mary to be able to extend a concrete hand to us people and to bring us into the Kingdom of Heaven is Christ. Anyone who wants to reach the Father in the Kingdom of Heaven cannot do it otherwise than in Christ, in the Truth and in the Life that He has revealed to us."

The work of our salvation is a work of the entire Holy Trinity concluded HG Bishop Ioan Casian: "We live in every Divine Liturgy, every day, the presence of the Holy Spirit and the work of God. The Holy Spirit does not do something foreign and does not have a separate activity from the whole Holy Trinity. He comes and takes from the saving, restorative, redeeming and transfiguring work of the Savior Christ done in His person and gives it to us in the Church every moment, every day, every year. That is why the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are so related. They have the same divine nature, but the Father is unbegotten, the Son is begotten, and the Holy Spirit is processed. But all the work of salvation is done by the whole Holy Trinity. The role of each divine person is specific, but the work is entirely trinitarian.

The Savior says: 'If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.' Keeping the commandments is the manifestation of love towards God.

'I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, to be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him, nor know Him; you, however, know Him, because He remains with you and will be in you!’ This is how the Father sends the Holy Spirit because of the prayer of the Son, the latter being the closest intercessor in the Holy Trinity for us as humans, carrying our prayer to God the Father. The Son knows humanity's need for redemption, for healing, for salvation."

At the end, the hierarch blessed those present.

(notes by Nun Ana)