I kneel for you every evening ceremony and High Mass in our little church, a monument whose origins are lost in times. How many candles have burnt the pains and lighted the joys of our village!
Beloved friends, here gathered in (this) our virtual parish, I wish to share my kind thoughts with you, adressing especially to our brothers from Norway, Ireland, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, US and Canada.
We have gathered 15 years of shared prayers, of common experiences and fulfilment, since our community has been founded. We are wiser and prettier now! Together we are Contesti Parish! At the end of the year 2002 we were beginning our new journey together, an initiatic journey to prepare us for God. There were some misteps, but there were also many good ones which brought us the light of love invested into each others. I love you and I know that you love me, too. I would like to name all of those people who have passed away and whom we dearly and dutifully lay on the history page of our family, but this is not the right place to do it. Maybe it will happen at our next encounter.
I remember our first meeting, on the holy day of Saint Andrew, Romanians' Apostle, on the 30th of November 2002. Excitement, hope, thoughts, faces and unique smiles. I also remember the first day of our church's celebration of its titular saint, on the 6th December 2002, then the first celebration of Jesus's Birth, and of all the passing years which were as beautiful as a necklace with precious stones crowning our heads.
I give you all my blessings, kneeling so that I could kindle each and every of your candles, just to know you are all fine. We have been together through so many things, and let behind all that was troublesome. At this moment of looking inside, but also in the past and the future, I feel the warmth of parental protection, the peaceful embrace of your souls which are open for the priest who is laying you on the shrine prepared for Christ.
I call your names with commitment. Through God's will I have been to many holy places both in our country and to other parts of the world. If I were to choose the places and moments when tears were bathing my cheeks while calling your names for your health, for your journeys, for your reconciliation with other people, for helping you get over the obstacles in your path, for the exams you had to pass, for strengthening the relationships established in our community, for all those things I have felt and thought about, I would definitely gather you all in front of the holy images from Durau, Sihastria, Putna, Miclauseni, Busteni, Techirghiol, Prislop and (going over the borders) in front of the image of the Virgin Mary which sees over the holy places from Prodromu, Vatoped, Dionisiu, Filotheu, KaraKalu, Pantocrator, Stavronikita, Iviron and all the holy monasteries of Athos.
I kneel for you every evening ceremony and High Mass in our little church, a monument whose origins are lost in times. How many candles have burnt the pains and lighted the joys of our village! Even after its annexation to Girov, in 1968, Contesti is still an entity, sustained by the metropolitan decision of building a parish here. The first priest to be sent to you was I, the one who thanks you here and now for the love with which you have welcomed me. You usually thank me for many things. I am the product of your love. I am what each and every one of you from Contesti has contributed with. I thank you for everything! Happy birthday Contesti! Happy birthday to us all! Hope to be seeing you in 15 years from now as well!
Mulţumim pentru traducere Lăcrămioarei O.
