SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Christians believe that God is love. The Trinity defines love: the love of the Father for the Son, and the Son for the Father, of the Father for the Spirit, of the Son for the Spirit, and of the Spirit for the Father and the Son. It is, finally, a love which is so great that it went out of itself. This is why God created and sustains all that exists. Here we see that love is not a feeling or emotion, as many people think. Rather, love is a permanent relationship of self-givi

“All people are called to holiness, all people are called to an unceasing battle with sin, and all people are called to unseen warfare…One cannot wage a battle if one does not acknowledge the existence of an enemy; and the Church’s testimony is clear, that whether or not one acknowledges that foe, whether or not one elects to fight in the battle, the foe remains real and never ceases in his attacks against us. So our choice is not “to fight or not to fight,” to acknowledge th

“The signs of God’s grace surround us and lie within us. But we have our own idols that blind us to all the signs that give witness to the steadfast love of God. Yet the troubles of this world, the suffering of illness and grief, the attractions of this age, the temptations of greed, jealousy, and avarice, and the press of daily affairs conspire to hide the goodness of God from us. Further, in times of distress, we might even blame the Almighty and All-Merciful for our troubl

“Let us think of our human existence as a book. Most people regard this present life as the actual text, the main story, and they see the future life – if, indeed, they believe that there is any future life – as no more than an appendix. But the genuinely Christian attitude is the exact reverse of this. Our present life is in reality no more than the preface, the introduction, while it is the future life that constitutes the main story. The moment of death signifies not the c

“Many people make the serious error of thinking of the Holy Spirit as only some kind of vague principle or influence. On the contrary, the Holy Spirit is as much a person (individual existence of a conscious being) as the Father and the Son.” (Foundation Study Bible, Ephesians 4:3) “Everything begins from our faith in Christ and accepting His word. When we make His commandments the unique law of our life, then we gradually acquire a certain mystical depth. We become mystical,

“Reading the Scriptures, studying the church fathers, attending worship, praying, and meditating are all good and godly things. But they are not ends in themselves. When we engage in these holy activities, our sincere and fervent goal should be to encounter the Lord Jesus Christ. We may be the most informed and even enthusiastic students of the Word. We may be devoted to the teachings of the church. We may excel in Christianity as Paul excelled in Judaism. But all that we thi

“Because the Scriptures have a specific, God-given meaning (2 Peter 1:20, 21), it is impossible to truly understand them apart from the Church, for apostolic interpretation is held in the consciousness of the Church.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Acts 8:30-31) “…to assert the "centrality" – even "sufficiency" – of Scripture does not mean a self-sufficiency. As Father Georges Florovsky writes, "We cannot assert that Scripture is self-sufficient; and this not because it is incomplete

“When Simon the magician attempts to buy some of the power manifested by the apostles (Acts 8:18-19), it exposes another possible clash between true faith and the lies of this world. Underlying Simon’s appeal are dangerous assumptions contrary to the nature of the Holy Spirit and the relationship between the Lord and His creation. The Apostle Peter…rebukes him (vs. 20), telling the magician plainly that his request shows that his heart is “not right in the sight of God” (vs.

“…if God is all-good and all-powerful, then there shouldn’t be evil. But there is evil. Therefore, this God must not exist. This sort of skeptical argument could only take hold within the modern moral order…and its epistemic confidence…Before looking at the nature of good and evil, it is worth seeing the problem involved when choice is inserted into the conversation. What happens in that approach is that we are no longer speaking about the nature of good and evil, indeed, bot

“During this season of mask-wearing, we have become weary of a “faceless” existence. I can think of nothing that is more de-personalizing that the hiding of our face. I respect the science (and certainly would not want a surgeon operating on me without a mask). But I lament our common experience even as I pray for this time to pass. I also think, however, of how many masks we have all worn in our lives. We find many ways to hide our face – our true face.” (Father Stephen Free