SACRAMENTAL LIVING

Understanding Christianity as a Way of Life

Accomplishment

“Great things aren’t just the legacy of unusually gifted great men and women. Great things are what you will accomplish when you put God first and make Him owner of all you care about most.” (Bruce Wilkinson) “It is through us that God accomplishes what He pleases. He, of course, does not need to work out his will in such a way. But He chooses to do so.” (Richard Abanes) “It may seem strange that God works through us—fallible, unfaithful, untrustworthy human creatures. But He

Egocentricity

“We all need to overcome the basic egocentricity of life, the inborn feeling that “the world revolves around me.” Whenever we view others only in terms of how they affect us, we are in big trouble.” (Henry Cloud and John Townsend) “Unfortunately, we live in a world that is individualistic to a great extent, where love has been mostly estranged and other egocentric sentiments prevail. However, egocentric individualism does not bring real happiness, even though it promises domi

Criticism

“We live in a culture of knee-jerk criticism. See something about someone on the news, we immediately think we know the full truth about whatever we are seeing and we feel and/or express harsh criticism. See something on social media about someone, we chime in immediately with visceral criticism. Twitter wars, Facebook wars, media wars – it’s a bit out of control. The spiritual danger to all of this is the state of our souls. Continuous harsh and critical thoughts inside does

OL XXII Conference in Washington DC

Strength and Weakness

“Above all, pray, and the merciful Lord will give you strength of spirit. With such strength, when others marvel at your misfortunes, they will seem like nothing to you.” (St. Theophan the Recluse) “I have learned that out of the painful crucible of my own suffering, I was able to find within me a well-spring of strength that I never knew I possessed. I acquired a deepened understanding of the human condition, a greater sensitivity and compassion for the sufferings of others,

Presence

“Part of my duty…is to practice a ministry of presence…This is the “Ministry of Presence”, to just sit with someone in their pain and suffering. Love never fails and Jesus showed us, time and time again, how compassion heals.” (Philip Ryken, Anjanette Flemming) “Sometimes all we can do, all we should do, to love and support our family, friends, or anyone in need, is to simply be present, to just offer ourselves - no words, just be there. Practicing the simple ministry of pres

Groanings

“The Spirit of God is present to help, for He is our foremost helper. He calls us to prayer. The trouble, however, is “we do not know what we should pray for as we ought” (Romans 8:26). We are weakened as a result of sin. We do not grasp the goals of prayer, so we fail to approach it properly. However, the Spirit “makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (vs. 26). God the Father searches our hearts and knows the mind of the Spirit with whom He is One.

Spiritual Warfare and Growth

“Sin is portrayed in Scripture as an active and powerful force in unrelenting pursuit of its victims (Gen. 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8), and the believer is called to total war against it.” (Foundation Study Bible, Psalms 97:10) “We must consider all evil things, even the passions which war against us, to be not our own, but of our enemy the devil. This is very important. You can only conquer a passion when you do not consider it as part of you." (St. Nikon of Optina) “When we think ever

Love (As Struggle)

“Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized. Furthermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize thes

Contentment

“The word “contentment” combines two Greek words that together mean “self-sufficiency”... It refers to a state where nothing else is needed. Paul teaches this attitude when he says, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work” (2 Cor. 9:8).”…“One of the ironies of our age is that gratitude is “in” right now, yet contentment seems to be in short supply. The self-help sections of

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