Coronado, Costa Rica, May 15, 2025
Photo: iglesiaortodoxaserbiasca.org
On May 4, the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women, the Church of Our Lady of Vladimir in Coronado, Costa Rica, of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia was blessed with a visit from His Grace Bishop Serafim of Kostajnica, vicar of the Serbian Orthodox Church’s Diocese of New Gračanica and Midwestern America.
His Grace was joined by local clergy from three jurisdictions: Serbian, ROCOR, and the Orthodox Church in America, reports the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Buenoes Aires and South and Central America.
Bp. Serafim arrived in the country on May 2, and the next day he celebrated the Baptism of the servant of God Brandon, who received the baptismal name of Porfirije, and Saturday Vespers that evening at the St. Peter of Cetinje Serbian Orthodox Church in Curridabat.
The next morning, the entire Serbian parish community attended the Divine Liturgy at the ROCOR church.
Photo: iglesiaortodoxaserbiasca.org
The church overflowed with faithful from the community and travelers from across North and Central America, with numerous worshippers gathering on the portico. Nearly everyone present participated in the Sacrament of Holy Communion, reports the ROCOR Eastern American Diocese.
Bp. Serafim offered a homily on the life and labors of the Holy Myrrhbearers.
At a dinner with the Orthodox youth, the Serbian hierarch taught that true prayer involves our entire being—body, mouth, and mind—and when we cultivate inner silence amidst life’s noise, we purify our hearts to reflect Christ, transforming both ourselves and our surroundings:
In places of much noise and agitation, internal silence is what must prevail. Internal silence is what we must obtain through prayer and try to reflect Christ in our heart. When we have Christ in our heart, the external and internal of our surroundings is transformed.
When we pray, it is not just praying with words. It is an act of our entire being.
Photo: iglesiaortodoxaserbiasca.org
Our body with prostrations, our mouth with words, and our mind with concentration. All this helps us understand that we pray and allows us to bring it down to the heart.
When our heart remains disconnected from our being, that is when all bad things are born: sin, adultery, and murder. We must strive for the heart to be purified and for our prayer to descend and establish itself in it.
In our lives, we often despair at times because we feel that God’s grace has abandoned us, and we find no rest in the feeling of peace we once had, but this does not happen as punishment. Sometimes we drive away the grace of the Holy Spirit through our own sin, and it is there that we should rightly become sad and desire repentance even more. But sometimes grace leaves us so that we learn to seek it, as the deer seeks the water source. So, these moments when grace seems to leave us, and there are small temptations, should rather be moments of joy, because the Lord is giving us an opportunity to learn to seek Him, so that He Himself may bring us even closer to His presence.
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