Faith message transmitted in the Cluj Cathedral by Bishop John Michael Botean
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October 29, 2023
Faith message transmitted in the Cluj Cathedral by the Bishop of Greek-Catholic Romanians in the United States and Canada
The bishop of the Greek-Catholic Romanians in the United States and Canada, His Grace John Michael Botean, Bishop of Canton-Ohio, celebrated the Holy Hierarchical Liturgy, on Sunday, October 29, 2023, in the Episcopal Cathedral of Cluj-Napoca, together with His Grace Claudiu, Bishop of Cluj-Gherla. The students of the eparchial Theological Seminary helped the celebration with the liturgical answers being given by and, as every Sunday, by the "Angeli" choir.
At the altar table, they were present, along with Hierarchs, Fr. Vasile Tofană SJ, General Vicar of the Diocese of Cluj-Gherla, and the priests who serve in the cathedral. Members of the General Council of the General Association of United Romanians, Greek Catholics (AGRU) at national level, newly elected within the General AGRU were present in the Cathedral Assembly held in Cluj these days. His Grace John Michael Botean responded to the invitation to speak, in Romanian, the teaching word on the basis of the Gospel of Sunday, "Of the Resurrection of the Daughter of Iair" (Lc 8.54). He addressed a message of faith, through the "two stories" of the Evangelical Quote, having as protagonists a little girl and a woman, both affected by the disease, and to whom Jesus render their lives.
This passage, observed the American hierarch, pays special attention to the figure "12": Iair's daughter is 12 years old, the woman has the disease -which was cured by Jesus-, also 12 years -this figure, which corresponds to hours of the day, and the months of the year, the hierarch showed, actually reveals a cyclicality, the periodic arrival, of "a moment of choice". In the Evangelical Passage, it was a moment of choice, "not only for the woman and the little girl, but also for the girl's parents, and for those around them, who were driving Jesus, and for the Apostles." Although, according to the law of Moses, the woman would not have been allowed to touch anyone, she touched Jesus -she touched him faithfully- and Jesus said, "Dare, daughter, your faith has saved you." Jesus passed the borders of the normality of the woman -the state of illness, of social exclusion -, and healed her. But, PS John Michael stressed, the woman was healed "by Jesus and her faith."
When Jesus arrived at the house of Iair, although for all those there "normal" was death, they were convinced that Iair's daughter had died, and this time -as in the case of woman healing-Jesus was "in a different plane" , "In a parallel world," in a reality other than the one that the crowd experienced, who even ironized the statement of Jesus that the little girl " she is not dead, but sleeping." Jesus "he took her by the hand and called to her, “Child, arise!”. And the little girl returned to life. " Therefore, by what he did, Jesus transmitted to those who ironized and especially to the parents of the child a message of faith: "Just have faith, and your little girl will be saved, she will be healed. And so he did. "
His Grace John Michael explained: "Faith, and the word "trust " are on the same" base ", have the same letters, that is: "I believe". Therefore, "…if we want to follow the plan of God and not our plan, we, who suppose that we know the will of God and the thoughts that are in the mind of God, we must leave aside all our presumptions; And let us respond to all the divine movements with one word, or, perhaps, two words: "I believe", or "I believe, Lord" - an act of trust in The One Who loves us, saves us and has us in His infinite heart. Not only now, when we live in time and space, but forever. God did not create us for nothing, to play with us for some time and to leave us on the ground, He created us so that each of us is a special dream from God. So, when we trust God, in Jesus and we can say "I believe, Lord", "I believe in You, Lord," Jesus responds, "I trust you. I created you for a life of love, for an eternal life. Don't be afraid, your faith will save you."
After the celebration, His Grace Claudiu gave thanks to God for "the gift He made these days by the presence of His Grace John Michael", thanked him "for friendship, for closeness, for accompanying us with prayer and his blessing". He reminded the beginning, on Monday, October 30, 2023, in Blaj, of the Autumn Session of the Synod of the Bishops. He invited the believers to be with the Hierarchs in prayer, "…because this is the Church: each in his service, but all together in prayer for the will of the Lord to be done in our Church, in our country, in the world in which we live."
He concluded by the words: "The priests and the bishops, after the Prayer of the Pulpit, say in secret a prayer in which they ask Christ, at the end of the liturgy, "to fill our hearts of joy and cheerfulness. ”May these moments of grace in which we pray together, in which we really feel a family -the family of God -to fill our hearts and joy and cheerfulness to remain in our hearts, no matter what happens in the world we live in. For this joy, this cheerfulness, as the peace that Christ gives, do not depend on the fact that things are going well or not, but on the fact that Jesus is present in our souls."
In this spirit of hope, with souls full of the peace of God, the believers returned to their homes, while the choir sang the hymn of the Greek-Catholic Bishops, reminding the commemoration of their arrest, of the beginning of the way of their cross path in the footsteps of the Lord, with dignity, by faith, they have acquired from God the salvation and the crown of martyrs.
As a Guest, for a few days, of the Diocese of Cluj-Gherla, His Grace John Michael Botean (see below a short presentation of the hierarch) also participated in the afternoon on Friday, October 27, 2023, in the “Transfiguration” Cathedral, at a watch evening in the memory of the "Night of the Arrest", 75 years ago, of the Blessed Martyrs of the BRU, uniting in prayer with the bishop of Cluj-Gherla, with the priests of Cluj, in communion that day with the Holy Father, Francis, in invoking the peace and heavenly protection over Israel, the Gaza, Ukraine and over the world.
Sursa: https://www.eparhiaclujgherla.ro/2023/10/29/ps-john-michael-a-celebrat-si-predicat-in-catedrala-din-cluj/ - permission granted.
A short presentation of His Grace John Michael Botean:
His Grace John Michael Botean was born on July 9, 1955 in Canton (Ohio). He is the son of John and Amelia (Popa) Botean, whose parents - originally from Mureș and Maramureș counties - immigrated at the beginning of the 20th century in America. He has a younger brother, Mark S. Botean.
In 1977 he was licensed in philosophy (Summa cum Laude) at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC and enters the Melchit Seminary St. Gregory in Newton, Massachusetts. Between 1977-1981 he also attends the theology courses of the Boston Institute of Theology (Boston Theological Institute), and then, between 1985-1989 at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Illinois.
He is consecrated priest on May 18, 1986 by Bishop Louis Pușcaș. From 1986 to 1990 he was the parish priest of St. Archangel Michael from Aurora (IL). Between 1990-1993 he activates as a rector of the Cathedral of St. George in Canton (OH), following that between 1993-1996 he was the General Vicar and then the Apostolic Administrator of the Romanian Catholic Diocese.
On August 24, 1996, he was consecrated as the Bishop of the Romanian Catholic Diocese by Cardinal Lucian Mureșan.
Bishop John Michael Botean is an active member in several church, Catholic and ecumenical structures. Of these we mention:- Member of the Communications Committee of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in the United States (USCCB);
- The (Catholic) co-president of the Anglican-Catholic dialogue in the United States;
- Consultant for ecumenical and religious issues of the Conference of American Catholic bishops (USCCB);
- Member of the Episcopal Advisory Council of the National Association of Catholic Acperons;
- Member of the USCCB National Advisory Council
- Member of the USCCB Administration Committee
- Member of the common Catholic initiative (Catholic Common Ground Initiative), an initiative to diminish the polarities and divisions that weaken the communion of the Church. Also, PS John Michael was the co-sponsor of the bishops, the American section of John Chrysostom; Last member of the Ad Hoc committee for the life of the bishops and the conference of the Catholic bishops in the United States;
- President of the past of the Association of Eastern Catholic bishops (organization of the Eastern Catholic Hierarchy in the United States).
- PS John Michael is a promoter of the gospel of nonviolence, ecumenical dialogue, respectively of Byzantine tradition and faith in the United States.
