At today's Holy Liturgy in the Church of St. Nicholas in the Old Town, on the feast of St. Gregory the Wonderworker, the hierarchal vicar of Kotor-Tivat, the parish priest of Kotor, archpriest-staurophor Nemanja Krivokapić, spoke.
"Thank God, it has been two days since the Christmas fast began, when the Church once again reminds us to wake up, to gather ourselves, to see where we are on the path to our salvation.
In addition to fasting, we also prepare for Christmas through church songs, so from today the Christmas katavasia "Christ is born, praise Him, Christ is coming to us - meet Him", which is an invitation to go to meet the Lord Who is coming to us.
But, at every liturgy, through the holy chalice, we encounter the Lord who gives Himself to us through Holy Communion. This is what this Lent calls us to do, to see where we are, to reflect a little on our actions, to think about Christmas and to remember those events that followed immediately after the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, the little God, who was born in a cave, when those closest to Him, the shepherds, immediately ran to Him and brought their gifts, and then the wise men came and brought their gifts, so that we too may then reflect on our gifts that we will bring to the Lord, whom we are going to meet,” said Fr. Nemanja.
The gifts that God asks of us, reminds us of, are: repentance, humility, prayer, mercy towards others…
“As the Fathers say, “let us reduce our words and increase our prayer.” Let us reduce our desires and needs a little and look around us to see who else besides us has a need and can afford it, can we help someone, and of course, forgive,” says Fr. Nemanja, adding that our joy is when we bring joy to others, so that our neighbor is joyful.
And who is our neighbor is told by today’s Gospel about the Good Samaritan (Lk.10:25-37), that is, the story about who our neighbor is, which, continues Fr. Nemanja, was told by Jesus Christ himself.
“We should do good even when we do not hope for it in return. In this story, the Lord Jesus Christ, through that young man, reminds us that literally every person is our neighbor,” said Fr. Nemanja, recalling in a specific story the help from another people and not just any people, but people whom the Jews did not really like, since they despised the Samaritans.
Here Christ takes as an example just such a man who helps, and who would perhaps be least expected to do so.
"So, in this way he reminds us that everyone, but literally everyone, is our neighbor. Not only those we love, but also those with whom we should not have too many points of contact, who perhaps we should not even love. All of these are our neighbors and in each of them we can encounter the Lord. This story reminds us that every encounter we have with our neighbor is an encounter with the Lord," said Fr. Nemanja.
He emphasizes that God is not some kind of force, as is sometimes seen by the people, and according to non-Orthodox teachings, but rather He is a concrete person, the One who created the earth, appeared to the Forefathers in the Old Testament, to Moses, Isaac, Abraham, who appeared to Him personally, came to earth as a man, talked to people, performed miracles... "God expects us to treat Him as a person, as He is, but through other persons. The Gospel says: "When you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to Me." We do not therefore seek God somewhere in the heavens, but in every person, through our relationship with every person we meet, so that we may see the true God in him. Today's Gospel and the Lent that is beginning remind us of this.
"May God grant that fasting will be for our joy and salvation, that through our good deeds we may encounter the Lord who is coming, and to whom be glory, amen," said Father Nemanja, among other things.