SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“ ‘Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus’ (Acts 4:13). Uneducated and untrained refers specifically to religious education. This lack of religious training stands in contrast to the expertise of the Sanhedrin. The wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit transcend earthly religious training, for God works in the humble and simple as well as in those

“The Lord Jesus declares that God’s concern is to “save” and not to “condemn” (John 3:17). Why, then, does the Lord place the emphasis on condemnation (vss. 17-20)? The answer is quite simple. God sees a condemned race – His own creation – perishing and given over to the oblivion of death. The Source of Life looks lovingly upon a creation permeated by death. Its self-destruction is an affront to His very nature.” (Dynamis 4/28/2020) “Adam’s first act earned divine condemnati

“If you would enter into the mystery, then, like Christ Himself, you must become small, weak, poor, misunderstood, and willing to be broken. You cannot know Him if you refuse to be like Him. This is the only path that is truly Christian. Outside the mystery, there is nothing to be known, nothing that will save.” (Father Stephen Freeman) “And what do we make of the changing of the water into wine? Our limited ability as human beings is contravened by the grace and love of Chr

“The baptismal font becomes at once a tomb and a womb: "at the self-same moment you die and are born; the water of salvation is at once your grave and your mother" (St. Cyril of Jerusalem). The triple immersion in and emersion from the baptismal waters is laden with meaning. Baptism is both a death and a new birth. The water destroys one life and it begets another. It drowns the old man and raises up the new. The liturgical act gives expression to two realities: the death of

On Wednesday, April 22 at 7 pm, Michael taught a Zoom class to more than 30 people for the St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral Community called, Come and See: Recognizing the Unrecognizable Christ. The class lasted 90 minutes with an opening prayer service, lecture and then interactive discussion. Class description: Prior to His crucifixion and resurrection, many saw Christ with their eyes but did not truly understand who He was and the nature of His purpose. All of the accounts

“What is the heart? In biblical and patristic usage, the term “heart” does not correspond to the emotions. Rather, it is synonymous with the “spirit” of a person, and closely related to what the Fathers call the nous. These three terms – heart, spirit, and nous – may be defined as the essence of the soul, the place within each person where God reveals Himself (Mt 5:8). Most certainly, the heart is where God chooses to illumine the faithful (2 Cor 4:6)…The role of the heart an

“Christ accepts death on the Cross neither to receive the Father's punishment on our behalf, nor to satisfy the Father's need for blood-justice (as if God would demand such things), but so that by entering death as the divine Son of God, He can destroy this last enemy, which is death itself." (Orthodox Study Bible, Matthew 27:50) “Christ, crucified and risen, is our Paschal lamb, our Passover. United to Him in baptism, our life becomes an unending deliverance from evil…Evil i

“When we do something well, we want to tell others and be recognized. But recognition is dangerous—it can lead to inflated pride…Often those who try the hardest to become popular never make it. But the praise of people is not that important. Don’t spend your time devising ways to become accepted in the public eye. Instead, strive to do what is right, and both God and people will respect your convictions….How much better it is to seek the praise of God rather than the praise o

“ ‘Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven’ (Matthew 6:1). God is not impressed with what others think of us, nor by what we think of ourselves. God will reward good deeds when they are based on pure motives of the heart…The standard of judgment is uncalculated mercy toward others. The works produced by faith are emphasized, for saving faith always produces righteous works. What

“Critical for every servant of God, given our unavoidable struggle against the passions, is prayerful watchfulness…God endows each person with many gifts. However, instead of being grateful to God for these gifts, he is often not watchful. He claims them as his own, inwardly boasting. Then the cunning devil, the thief that he is, goes and steals the gifts—infects them with his poison, rendering them useless” (Dynamis 10/4/2019, St. Paisios the Athonite) “Without watchfulness