His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae visits the Ascension of the Lord Mission, Hayward, CA

Details
Category: Headlines

On Sunday, January 14, 2018, on the 29th Sunday after Pentecost, HE Metropolitan Nicolae visited the Ascension of the Lord Mission of Hayward, CA. The Divine Liturgy was served by His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae together with Fr. Gabriel Curpene, the parish priest, and Fr. Florin Lăpuştea from the Holy Cross Parish of San Jose, CA.

Image

In his sermon, HE Metropolitan Nicolae first spoke about the end of Theophany celebration, interpreting the Savior's urge to repentance as a preparation for entering the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom came through the Incarnation of Christ, the Kingdom is the Church that we form at the Divine Liturgy. In this kingdom we can enter only through repentance, by changing our understanding of our connection to God. HE Nicolae then spoke about the Gospel of the Day, of the 10 lepers. The lack of gratitude of the 9 lepers is an opportunity for reflection on our own ingratitude towards God’s gifts. The healed Samaritain’s example of gratitude is an exhortation to imitate it in order to further receive the gifts of God. Returning to the theme of the Church, HE Nicolae recalled that the Divine Liturgy is the complete way of expressing our gratitude to God, it is “just and right” to be thankful, according to the words of the prayers during the Divine Liturgy. In conclusion, HE Nicolae invited the priest and faithful to show their gratitude to God by using, according to the Orthodox customs, the generous space available to them by serving the divine services, catechism and biblical studies, and having activities for children. It was also recalled the significance of the year 2018 for the Romanian people and the activities our Metropolia would organize.

The “Ascension of the Lord”  Romanian Orthodox Mission of Hayward, CA began its saving work on Sunday, March 9, 2008, on the day of the commemoration of the 40 martyrs of Sevastia. It was established by the desire to lay the foundations for a new beginning in an Orthodox church that canonically belongs to the Mother Church, the Romanian Orthodox Church.