His Beatitude speaks about how prayer opens the Kingdom of God

Primate of the UOC. Photo: screenshot from the UOC YouTube channel

On December 8, 2024, during his Sunday sermon, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry elaborated on the spiritual meaning of the parable of the healing of the bent woman, according to the UOC press service. He explained that the bent woman symbolizes people "bound to the earth, who think only of earthly things and not of heavenly ones." This condition prevents a person from lifting their eyes to heaven and understanding the spiritual goals of life.

The Primate of the UOC emphasized that the Lord heals people from such attachments through trials: "This happens in different ways: through sorrows, through serious illnesses, through great trials. And then a person remembers that there is another life beyond the earthly one. There is eternal and blessed life."

He also stressed the need for constant prayer in a Christian’s life, saying, "We must strive to infuse our entire life with prayer," and reminded that the main goal for a person is to "seek the Heavenly." According to him, God always helps those who seek His truth and Kingdom: "The one who seeks God’s truth and His Kingdom will receive everything necessary for earthly life."

His Beatitude paid special attention to how believers should integrate prayer into their daily activities. He referred to the example of the holy fathers who, while living in the desert, prayed and worked simultaneously. "They teach us: work with your hands, but keep your heart and mind with God," he said, advising believers engaged in physical labor to say short prayers.

Concluding his sermon, Metropolitan Onuphry emphasized that when a person’s life is filled with prayer and good deeds, "it becomes joyful and blessed." "We will be happy regardless of whether we are healthy or sick, rich or poor. Because those who are with God already feel the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and, after death, transition into eternity. May the Lord help us, dear brothers and sisters, to work, pray, and live life in such a way as to be worthy of eternal salvation," he wished.

As previously reported, on December 8, 2024, the 24th Sunday after Pentecost and the feast day of the Holy Hieromartyr Clement of Rome, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine officiated the Divine Liturgy at the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

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