How I celebrated The Day of Romanian Language

Yesterday in the morning I came back from an exhausted travelling and after I slept a little, in the afternoon, me, my wife and our three children went to the Great National Assembly Square to celebrate with all other people the holiday “Our Language”.

I parked the car in front of the “Codru” hotel and departed to the square passing by the National Park. At the entrance, we heard how somebody drummed up some cans and made a big noise to capture the attention of the passers-by. When we came closer we saw that those were the youths from the Hyde Park Organization. They had placards on which they were expressing the indignation against the president of the country and I understood that they were asking for the placement of the monument of Liviu Rebreanu on the Writer’s Alee.

Then we went on to the Square where it was a nice concert of folk music and dances. There were a lot of elder people, probably the younger were waiting to come later. We were glad to see in the midst of this crowd a grandfather dancing with his granddaugter. They were full of joy and delight, as it seemed that only they were in the square. At a moment we realized that we and the rest of the spectators were admiring that grandfather and his granddaughter, not paying much attention at the artists from the stage. It was a great difference between them. The grandfather with his granddaughter couldn’t perform all those beautifull dancing elements, didn’t have the costumes of those artists, but they were dancing with such delight. Those who were dancing on the stage had such good skills, but they were lacking passion and delight that were seen at the grandfather and his granddaughter. I was thinking that the same thing is with the preaching of the Gospel. Some learn in great theological schools, study a lot, etc. and then focus themselves on the technical part of spreading the Gospel then on living fully the spread message. People notice this easily.

Then, we departed to go to the Cathedral’s Park. Soon after, I saw a young man who had just danced on the stage, sitting on a border stone. He was dressed up in a nice national costume and was smoking. He threw the cigarette which he had just smoked. I came close to him and I told him that it is not good to do this and adviced him to take and throw it in an ash bin. He looked at me wonderingly and I understood that he was not going to do this. Then, I bowed down and took the cigarette and went to throw it in an ash bin. It took me much time till I found where to throw it and while I was walking, my wife told me: “Be attentive, because while you walk with this cigarette, someone can see you and understand it in a wrong way and then attack your name and the message that we preach.” David, my elder son, told me:“Father, I saw that the man who threw the cigarette looked disdainfully after you…”

When we were going back to the car, we met the youth from Hyde Park again. They were chorussing and calling all people not to submit to the authorities, to be free, and to look for culture. It was strange to hear from them “Let us have culture!” while they were drumming up those cans continuously… These youths have zeal and wish to fight, but for many times they do not know what they want and for what they are fighting. We, Christians have to fight a holy war, where we are called to bring the Gospel to all people. I was sorry that yesterday in the square I didn’t meet anyone who distributed Bibles or booklets with the message of the Gospel or at least to be dressed up in a T-shirt with a Christian message. What a wonderful opportunity for spreading the Gospel we have lost….

Translated by Djugostran Felicia