On Saturday, Erik Urbán, Provincial of the Transylvanian Franciscan Order, encouraged the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who gathered in the Csiksomlyó mountain saddle and the faithful who watched the Mass from afar via live broadcast to live a value-driven, conscious, Christian life.
To the motto of this year's farewell - Saint Francis of Assisi "Hail, you who, being a virgin, have become a church!" the head of the Transylvanian Franciscans pointed out: during the vow farewell, the mountain saddle between Kis- and Nagysomlyó turns into a church, where the assembled crowd of pilgrims shows the pulsating living reality of the church.
Participants in the farewell mass in Csíksomlyó in the saddle between the Kis- and Nagysomlyóhegy in Csíksomlyó on May 27, 2023 (Photo: MTI/Nándor Veres).
"A mother's joy is when the family is together, the big family together, at the table of her Holy Son," the speaker stated. He assessed it as: the XXI. A person living in the consumer society of the 20th century must become self-aware and build his value system on reliable foundations, he needs a value scale that can adjust his life and the community.
In order to do this, it is necessary to learn to differentiate between need and passion, wish and longing, "let's call this wisdom", explained Erik Urbán,
then he exhorted his students to respect additional values such as respect, awareness, humanity and brotherhood.
"Today's world needs unarmed prophets who warn of the inhumanity of war, pointing out the need for an orderly relationship between God and man, man and human groups, a harmonious state characterized by non-violence and fearlessness, including the human health, well-being, and freedom from anxiety - let's call this peace," the speaker continued.
You can watch the entire Mass by clicking on the video. Erik Urbán's provincial celebratory speech of the Transylvanian Franciscan Order begins at 34.20.
Among the core values, he named a family consisting of a man and a woman, a community of love and life, who sees children as hope and a challenge and takes care of them, as well as the historically formed community, which is formed by the common language, the territory, thousand-year-old values, in a distinctive culture nourished by manifest characteristics and which is called a nation.
"We have to learn that there is a community built on a rock in which everyone has a place, service is its path, Christ's joy is its strength, the Holy Spirit is its lifeblood, eternity is its goal: this is the Church," concluded the Franciscan superior .
Referring to the rules of the eight-century-old monastic order, he admonished his students:
don't be afraid of "rules", they are not limitations: through the individual, they serve the well-being of the whole community, because "we need an order that holds us together".
"The scale of values can be none other than wisdom, respect, patience, awareness, humanity, brotherhood, peace, family, nation, church. To serve and not to rule, to produce and not just to consume, to give and not just to expect, to admire and not to exploit, to protect and not to destroy!” - the speaker of the farewell ceremony in Csíksomlyó listed his admonitions.
Pilgrims gather before the farewell mass in Csíksomlyó in the saddle between Kis- and Nagysomlyó mountains on May 27, 2023 (Photo: MTI/Nándor Veres).
The open-air Mass celebrated by Gyulafehérvár Archbishop Gergely Kovács ended with the singing of the papal hymn and the Hungarian and Székely hymns in the presence of hundreds of thousands of believers. Hungarian head of state Katalin Novák, her predecessor János Áder, former president of the Republic, Zsolt Semjén, Hungary, and Kelemen Hunor, deputy prime minister of Romania, were present among the pilgrims.
Source: MTI / hirado.hu
Featured image: Franciscan Provincial Superior Erik Urbán at the farewell mass in Csíksomlyó on May 27, 2023 (Photo: MTI/Nándor Veres)
