SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Evil arises from the abuse of the free will God has granted his higher creatures and is tolerated for a while as the price of their significance. But it is derivative, not original, and thus doomed to eventual defeat because God as the Creator of all is the greatest Power that is or can be. We give God our best, physically, mentally, and morally, because He deserves no less—not because we think our best is worthy of Him or adequate to achieve His purposes. We give Him our be

“With supernatural authority, Christ our God rebukes the wind and calms the sea (Mark 4:39). He intends to awaken his disciples from their trembling and bring them to a righteous fear – a holy awe and dread of God. In this passage the Evangelist Mark uses the word delia, meaning timidity or fright, and also phobos, meaning “fear of the Lord.” The disciples’ initial fright is delia, while their Master’s control over the elements evokes phobos: “Who can this be, that even the w

“The Lord Jesus clearly teaches in this parable [Parable of the Sower - Mark 4:1-9] that there is irresistible power in life, physical and spiritual alike. Everything that can be called life flows from God; it comes from His Person. For this reason, Christ our God says, “I am the . . . life” (Jn 14:6), which makes the parable exciting. He who is Life yields life many times over.” (Dynamis 9/4/2020) “The “works” that a Christian does, are properly done in union with Christ, su

“ ‘But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’ (John 6:69). “To be givers of life in this world the way Christ was, which was through loving, supporting, healing, ministering, we have to emulate Him which means we have to unite with Him. The Church is the means to do this and then who we are ripples out from the Church walls into the world is our daily choices.” (Sacramental Living Ministries) “‘Most assuredly, I say to you,

“The modern world is a difficult place in which to find the self, if, for no other reason, than its own fascination with what it describes as the self. The creation of an identity is among the many modern projects – it has become an object of our consumption. We not only “pick” an identity, we tend to “accessorize” as well.” (Father Stephen Freeman) “We recognize that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139:14)—completely unique and incomparable to any other human be

“It is only in Saint Luke’s account that we read that wonderful verse of the healed demoniac sitting at the feet of Jesus…It is an account that more-or-less assaults our modern sensibilities. The realm and reality of the demonic and the “spiritual warfare” implied by recognizing such a realm and reality opens up our minds and hearts to both the irrational and supra-rational world of the Gospel in which Christ has come to “bind” the “strong man.”  This is a fierce battle that

“The first evangelist was Jesus Christ. He is still the model. He set the standard for all evangelists. We read in Luke 4:18 how the Lord connected preaching the Gospel to the anointing of the Holy Spirit: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel. He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." (Father Eusebius Stephano