Father Crăciun Opre – Caring, loving, devoted, gentle and understanding, ready to help everyone.
Father Crăciun Opre has been and will continue to be much praised, for his life was a special one, full of miracles and God’s interventions in it. All the stages of his earthly existence showed him to be a chosen vessel, specially prepared by the Creator of all, to glorify His name on earth through the profession of faith and to help many through the consolation of his charity.
All those who knew him and enjoyed the light of his presence and the usefulness of his words could not fail to notice his particular refinement, his absolutely amazing intelligence and memory, his fine humour, his impressive patience, his devotion full of gentleness and delicacy. All could see his tireless desire to serve God by serving his neighbour.
Everyone could see the devotion that kept him in the confessional chair for thousands and thousands of hours, often in the cold and fasting, with only one desire: to rest Christ in the souls of those who came to him for confession. I do not think anyone could have failed to notice the selflessness and zeal with which he cared for those entrusted to his care.
But all this was just a glimpse of his inner fire, his spiritual glow. But what remained hidden was the deep and well hidden mystery of his soul, so well covered by the cloak of humility and simplicity. Even those close to him found it difficult to penetrate the sanctity of Father Crăciun’s soul. Sometimes, however, and very rarely, one could see rays coming from the mysterious space of his heart. Then it was possible to understand that on the mystical altar of his soul, his whole being was consumed by the fire of divine love. Words can hardly describe this silent man of the heart, this cherub hidden in the powerless flesh of the body. There, in that Holy of Holies where the Saviour entered through the mystery of Holy Baptism, God saw to it that a new man was born in the image of Christ. There, like the Blessed Virgin, Father Crăciun lived, nourished by divine words and heavenly bread. There his new man grew up, growing in patience and suffering, and his love for God was tested by suffering. There he sensed the fragrance of heaven and the longing for eternity. It was there that the Father acquired his good spiritual stability, which helped him to serve people and never to stray from God. In that mysterious and unfathomable chamber of his heart, the Confessor of Christ knew that everything is transitory and that only the selfless love of the Holy Trinity is the only love with which we can be completely reconciled without diminishing ourselves. He knew and experienced that it is the only dialogue in which we find the full and inexhaustible growth of our being. There the Father lived as a hermit, even though he lived with his body as a bridegroom in the midst of the world. There, Father Crăciun learned the art of self-denial as a way of approaching God. With an inner awakening always ready to defend the treasure hidden in the treasury of his soul, with a grave sense of responsibility for the gifts he had received from God, with fervent cries of prayer, with an unshakable will to remain faithful to the Great Love and to confess it even at the cost of his blood, with tears from the fire and with the stirrings of a spirit that makes the angels rejoice, Father Crăciun succeeded in resolving the great paradox of the Gospel: To be present in the world without being of the world, to liberate the mysterious cherubim within him and, self-sufficient in the Spirit, to live in love with God in the service of his neighbour. This is the great miracle of the life of Father Crăciun! All the other historical events of his existence are but a reflection and fruit of this miracle. Thus, in the life of Father Crăciun, God also showed Himself to be wonderful in His saints. God worked miracles where man followed Him.
Transferred to eternal rest in the kingdom of the love of the Holy Trinity, or rather, to continue to serve the Holy Liturgy in the world of heavenly joy, Father Crăciun is alive and living among us. We all know it and feel it. He is the same. He is attentive, loving, devoted, gentle and understanding, ready to help everyone. We rejoice and long to be reunited. But that depends only on us and on the spiritual work in the depths of our hearts.
On all fronts of life, the Church today needs people who understand the usefulness of retreats and interior ministry. I mean people with reserves of understanding, of love, of prayer, of purity, people whose souls are glued to God and are dedicated, enlightened and strengthened with powers of service, in the Spirit of God, in His name and according to His principles; people, in a word, who have learned to love and serve the values of eternal life, not only in the school of the world, but also in the school of God.
Father Crăciun Opre is such a man!
(His Eminence Dr Laurențiu STREZA, Metropolitan of Ardeal – Father Crăciun Opre, a confessor with a festive name, Agnos Publishing House, 2014)