In the Church of St. Nicholas in the Old Town of Kotor, the feast of the Meeting of the Lord was celebrated with prayer today.
With the concelebration of the clergy and the prayerful participation of numerous believers, the Holy Liturgy was served by the hierarchal vicar of Kotor-Tivat, the parish priest of Kotor, archpriest - stavrophor Nemanja Krivokapić, who emphasized in his sermon that today's feast of the Meeting calls us to meet the Lord through the encounter with our neighbors.
“We heard the Holy Gospel that the Church recommends to us on the Sunday before the beginning of Lent, which speaks of the Last Judgment, and in essence, the theme of this Gospel is love. Today’s Gospel speaks of love being the measure of our lives and the measure of our calling as Christians,” says Fr. Nemanja and reminds us of Christ’s words to his disciples: “By this you will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
And for God himself, he continues, Whom we cannot describe with one word, nor tell Him exactly His attributes, if we had to choose one word for Him, then it would be love.
“God is love, because out of love He does everything He does. Out of love He created the entire world, out of love He thinks about us. He did not just create us and leave us, but He thinks about us. Out of love He came to earth, suffered and rose again for our salvation, out of love He founded the Church as a place of encounter between us and God. In the Church, through the sacraments and through life in the Church, we can unite with Him. That is exactly what God Himself did when He came to earth, became incarnate, united in His person the divine and human nature, which is salvific for us. We are again united with God through the sacraments, and above all through communion,” said Father Nemanja.
Therefore, he indicated, the meaning of our life and our salvation is love for God.
“Our salvation through love for God, who gave us everything. And that is why we fast, that is why we prepare ourselves, that is why we renounce some things, that we pray to God more. The meaning of fasting is precisely to unite ourselves more readily with God, through the holy mystery of communion. In the famous High Priestly Prayer, before His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, where the Lord Jesus Christ prayed to the Father, He says: “That they may all be one, as You are in me and I in You, that they also may be one with us.” Therefore, just as there is unity among the persons of the Holy Trinity, so we are united with God Himself and with each other through the holy mystery of communion. Communion is what is the center and meaning of our life, and the fast that follows is so that we may approach communion more readily.
And so that we may not accidentally think that we are sufficient for ourselves and that, if we fulfill the commandments, which we should fulfill of course, that we can thus to save, this gospel reminds us and emphasizes that this very love for God, which is the basis of our life, cannot be realized in any other way, except through love for our neighbors. And who says that? God Himself, through this gospel, through these examples that He cites, says to those who were saved, who entered Paradise, “you were saved because you showed love for your neighbors, and through them love for God Himself.” He does not say to them, “you were good, so because of your good deeds you will go to Paradise.” No, but “what have you done to me.” So, when we do something to a person, God sees it as if we did something to Him. He will also tell those who do not go to Paradise that the reason for this is because they did not show love and did not recognize God in a person. They sought Him somewhere else, individually perhaps, to meet Him, and that is not possible. The church is a community and we are saved through community and fulfilled as individuals through community, through encounters with other people.This is the way in which we are saved, as God asks of us, which He clearly and unequivocally communicates to us through this holy gospel, and not only love for these people we meet, but also for those who have moved into the Kingdom of God. For the Church is not only for us who are alive, but is the Church of all, and the love that we show for the people present here, we should also show for the deceased.
The Church reminds us the day before this Sunday, when All Souls' Day is, to pray for our deceased, that it is our obligation and duty, to show love for those who can no longer do anything for their salvation, and we can through prayer. And that is love for our neighbors.
And today's feast of the Meeting calls us to encounter the Lord, and through encountering our neighbors, who are around us. May the Lord God grant, through this holy gospel, to soften our hearts, that we may recognize God in our neighbor and thus be saved. Amen,” said Father Nemanja.