Patriarch Daniel of Romania explained that the Sunday of All Saints follows immediately after Pentecost because “the purpose of the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world is the sanctification of humankind.”
The Patriarch emphasized that this feast primarily reveals the ultimate goal for which Christ founded the Church.
“The Church of Christ was instituted by Him and established through the work of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of 3,000 people in the name of the Holy Trinity. Thus, through baptism, the Church continues to grow.”
“This awareness of the purpose of the descent of the Holy Spirit and of the Church’s mission on earth is especially expressed through the Feast of the Sunday of All Saints.”
The Patriarch underlined that “the Holy Spirit comes into the world to form spirituality and, visibly, to constitute the Church of Christ as a divine-human community—a gathering of people from different nations into the love of the Holy Trinity, based on their faith in Jesus Christ.”
The Holy Spirit Makes the Faithful Holy
The Romanian Patriarch explained that “sharing in the holiness of Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church makes people wonderful, as they are filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit.”
“The Holy Spirit helps the faithful grow spiritually so that the image of God within them becomes likeness to God through grace, meaning through participation in His holiness.”
Through the work of grace, the faithful person, in prayer and humility, “draws nearer to God the Father and feels the joy of being His spiritual child, by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God.”
“The descent of the Holy Spirit into a world fallen into sin aims to raise people to a life of holiness, to be like the Son of God, who became man so that people might become children of God by grace,” the Patriarch explained.
The Saints Live in Communion
Patriarch Daniel emphasized that the saints live in a communion of love through the grace of the Holy Trinity.
Saints are commemorated in every Divine Liturgy, “beginning with the Office of Oblation, where the Mother of God and all the saints grouped into nine choirs are remembered.”
The Sunday of All Saints, he said, “helps us understand that in heaven, the saints do not live in isolation, but in communion, and the unity of the Church is especially revealed in the communion of the saints throughout the ages.”
The Unity of the Church
Patriarch Daniel explained that the unity of the Church, shown through the communion of saints over the centuries, is also expressed in the confession of the same faith.
“The unity of the Church is not revealed merely through reference to an earthly administrative centre, but through the unity in confessing the right faith, in spiritual feeling and thought throughout the ages.”
“We see that the unity of the Church is directly connected to its holiness, for in God, unity and holiness are inseparable. More precisely, the Holy God is One not as eternal solitude, but as perfect communion of eternal life and love between three holy, equal, distinct, and inseparable Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
“God bestows many blessings upon those who believe in Him and fulfil His will in their lives. Therefore, since God loves us with infinite and eternal love, let us continually respond to His love through prayer and good deeds,” concluded Patriarch Daniel.
The Patriarch participated in the Divine Liturgy on the Sunday of All Saints, celebrated at the historic Chapel of Saint George the Great Martyr within the Patriarchal Residence.
Photo: Lumina Newspaper
Source: basilica.ro
