Coronavirus: church leaders pray together for the victims of the epidemic – Debrecen news, Debrecen news | News of Debrecen and Hajdú-Bihar counties
Coronavirus: Church leaders prayed together for the victims of the epidemic
On the first Sunday of Budapest – Advent, a donation was raised at the event to help children orphaned by the coronavirus.
Leaders of the Catholic, Reformed, and Lutheran churches pray together for the victims of the coronavirus epidemic and the passing of the pandemic at an ecumenical prayer on the first Sunday of St. Stephen’s Basilica in Budapest.
Tamás Fabiny, Gábor Mohos and Zoltán Balog – Photo: MTI
Zoltán Balog, pastor of the synod of the Hungarian Reformed Church, talks about the message of the coronavirus epidemic, but “it is a message for us Christians to stay together.”
“Stay with the other person, stay in the community even if you separate everything now” than usual! “Do not allow yourself to be confronted with those who are potential sources of danger because they think differently, behave differently in these difficult times,” the Reformed bishop said.
Just as his friends sat in silence next to Job in the Old Testament story scratching Job, scratching his wounds, so “we Christians” must suffer with the sick, the mourners, the orphans, and the widows, he said.
“Our job is not just to take care of ourselves,” but to help others. “Let’s show the love of God in the world to all appearances together,” Zoltán Balog asked.
There are times when there is no further forward, but there is always a way up. Every Advent is a message: lift your heads, open your eyes, for “God, the Creator and Savior, can give in this Advent a gift that will lift you out of trouble,” the Reformed bishop added.
Gábor Mohos, the auxiliary bishop of Esztergom-Budapest, the parish priest of the basilica, said that the epidemic provides an opportunity to “rethink the focus of our lives”, that what is really important and that the relationship with God, prayer, should come first.
He also mentioned that at the time of the epidemic, we are facing challenges that we cannot even find a solution to as a community. However, God gives his blessing to all good endeavors.
He added, “We believe that God created us for eternity,” so those who end earthly life will not be destroyed but will enter a fuller world.
Gábor Mohos read the prayer of Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, on this occasion. “O Lord (…), have mercy on our dead brethren, forgive all their sins, and lead them into a land of eternal happiness, where there is no more mourning and sorrow!” “Hear our prayer for the family members who have lost loved ones or who are now worried about their sick relatives. Give help to the orphans, healing the sick! reward in this life and in eternity! – said Péter Erdő.
Tamás Fabiny, President and Bishop of the Hungarian Lutheran Church, emphasized that suffering and prayer go hand in hand. In the midst of suffering alone, we must never pray only for ourselves, but at least as much for the other sufferer. Praying for others is a “communal act” and a constant relationship with God.
Tamás Fabiny also said that all healers, doctors and nurses follow in the footsteps of Jesus. He recalled a healed coronavirus patient told him that when he received blood plasma at the hospital, the nurse who placed the plasma on the infusion stand said softly, “God bless those who gave themselves the blood plasma.”
The pastor could not stand by the patient, but there was the nurse who not only healed but also displayed the word of God with a gesture of blessing, he added.
Doctors and nurses have often done not only healing but also spiritual care work during the epidemic, the Lutheran bishop said, adding that there is hardly a profession that could not be done in a similarly self-sacrificing way for those in need.
At the end of the prayer, the participants commemorated György Snell, the auxiliary bishop of Esztergom-Budapest, the previous parish priest of St. Stephen’s Basilica, who died in the coronavirus epidemic in February.
The ecumenical prayer was attended by President János Áder and his wife, Anita Herczegh. At the event, donations were raised for the Regőczi Foundation, which was set up to help orphaned children due to the coronavirus epidemic.