Bishop Iachint: Christ can be either a stumbling block or the firm foundation of our lives

His Grace Bishop Iachint of the Pacific, Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand, emphasised that Christ can become either a “stumbling block” or the “firm foundation” of our lives, depending on how we receive and fulfil the word of God.

Bishop Iachint celebrated the Divine Liturgy on Sunday at the Life-Giving Spring Monastery and Diocesan Residence in Melbourne, Australia.

The hierarch spoke about the Christian’s responsibility to fulfil the will of the Lord and bear the fruits of faith, highlighting God’s patience and love.

The foundation stone Bishop Iachint explained the words of the Saviour from the Gospel reading for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost: “Whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”

“Christ is like a stone in our own day as well: when we stumble over the word of the Gospel, when the message of the Church becomes uncomfortable, when Christ challenges us. We stumble over Him because we are accustomed to following a path from which the Lord, at a certain point, wants to turn us away. The word of God appears in our conscience as a stone against which we strike.”

Bishop Iachint of the…