Sunday, August 4 the Cathedral St. John the Baptist in Montreal received the visit of HG Bishop Ioan Casian. Beside the hierarch were serving Father Ciprian Augustin Purcarea and deacon Cãtãlin Gheorghiu.

St. Paul says in today's Epistle: "let each one of us seek to please his neighbor, for his good, leading to edification " (Romans 15: 2). The Apostle of the Gentiles urges us to be attentive to the one next to us, inspired by the commandment of the love of neighbor that Christ gives to people. We have to please in 'what is good' tells the apostle. It does not urge us to please ourselves in everything, but only for a good because that edifies. The right order of the good man reflects the paradisiac ordinance of God: "The God saw everything He had made, and indeed, it was very good" (Genesis 1, 31).

The occasion of the fasting of the Dormition of the Virgin is a good opportunity to make an ascetic and spiritual effort to put in order our lives. It is an opportunity to scrutinize our inner soul and to rectify what does not seem well done in our way of understanding and acting.

The Mother of God is a good example of a life in which the perfect faith becomes the basis of her whole existence. It is, in fact, the model of the Church, of the one who brings forth Christ to the world in the Holy Spirit. If we want to be true Christians, the example of the Virgin Mary can be our best guide. The Mother of God reminds us of the model of man conceived and founded by God in the beginning.

Through the Holy Sacraments man is replanted in the initial moment of his creation but he lives in anticipation the luminous future that was destined for him by God. It is faith that helps man to adhere to the great work of God that can heal him of all misfortunes.

At the end of his sermon, the hierarch urged those present to continue the ascetic effort during this of the Dormition of the Mother of God’s fasting period after which he blessed them.

Also on this occasion the hierarch of Canada prayed for the rest of the souls of the two young women Alexandra Măceșanu and Luiza Melencu whose tragic story shook Romania in the last days.