Father Galeriu’s will
Many and wonderful are the words that the great confessor, Father Constantin Galeriu, left to his spiritual sons, but also to the whole of humanity, Christian and Romanian. To humanity, because in all his teachings he spoke of the whole man in the world, “man created in the image of God”, often quoting the contemporary Indian who said: “Christianity belongs to Christ, but Christ does not belong to Christians alone”… To the Christian race, because that was his creed:
“Christians are the visionaries of the world”; and this creed was taken from the Gospel, it was the Saviour’s word, taken and lived: “You are the light of the world…”
And last but not least, to the Romanian nation, which he loved and served with love and holy dedication until the last moment of his stay on this earth. For this “holy nation”, as Father called it, he prepared whole generations of bishops, priests, monks, but also teachers, doctors, lawyers, painters, artists, workers, enlightened people with a clear conscience, who serve their fellow men and women and live according to the word of the Gospel, as they saw and learned from their father.
On the eve of the funeral, when I saw how the security guards were preventing those who wanted to take part in the funeral from doing so, I felt a great weight on my soul, and I asked the Father to keep watch so that all those who remained behind the fences could be comforted… And Father responded quickly.
And so, as Father’s body was being carried to its resting place in the cemetery, a beautiful rainbow appeared above the crowd that had gathered for the procession – a biblical sign that reveals the covenant and shows us how firm and alive is the covenant between the confessor of the Father and his spiritual sons, but also between God the Creator and His creation.
The power of witness
The word that enlightened my “heavenly heart” was spoken by the Father in special circumstances and has the value of a testament. It was three months before he fell asleep in the Lord.
I was away from Bucharest and when I came back around noon, I went to see how Father was… As soon as I entered the courtyard, I knew that something serious had happened. There was a great tension among all those who had remained… Without asking what had happened, I joined them in prayer.
After changing the antibiotic, Father had had a strong allergic reaction and the ambulance had been called to take him to hospital. The Deacon Cristian Galeriu, with his lively and sensitive feeling, who understood beyond words what was in my soul, invited me to accompany him to the hospital, where Joan and Gabriel (who had not been absent during Father’s suffering) were keeping vigil. I tried very hard to banish from my soul any fear, any pressure, I prayed to God to fill my soul with faith, with hope… I approached the bed. His eyes were closed, his face was tired, but bathed in an unusual light. Everything seemed full of gravity, of mystery…
It was the first time since we’d met that he hadn’t said a word of greeting… Father, who had always comforted us and turned our eyes towards the light, suddenly began to speak to us, uttering and pronouncing words that we could hardly understand:
“Now I understand, no doubt… There were times when I asked myself: what will it be like? And I couldn’t find the right answer… Today I got it… I began to let go… and before I fully understood what was happening, when I looked up… the Mother of God and Her Son were waiting with open arms to welcome me”.
A few moments of silence followed… moments of prayer, of grace… And after those few moments of silence, she gathered her strength and told us:
“I have tried to put faith in your hearts, you must confess it.”
We ask you, Venerable Father, from the depths of our souls, to watch over the Saviour and His Blessed Mother in prayer, so that our lives may be a living testimony of the holiness in which you have lived all your life? Amen!
(Iulia Chirea – And I have been the disciple of Father Galeriu, edited by Argentina Grămada Dragu, Reproexpres Publishing House, Valencia, pp. 142-144)