SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“It takes the spiritual gift of discernment to recognize the difference between what comes from our own ego and what comes from the Spirit of Christ. What originates in our ego comes from our own pride. But we receive what is of Christ. We can only accept it with humility and gratitude as a gift…humility will realize that whatever wisdom, knowledge, spiritual gifts, and blessings it has, it has received.” (Fr. Basil) “Saint Paul urges us to be careful not to detach the forms

“The very metaphor of war ought to make us pause. The phrase “culture wars” is an oxymoron: culture is about nourishment and cultivation, whereas war inevitably involves destruction and the abandonment of the creative impulse.” (Gregory Wolfe) “It is pretty hard not to notice the divisive political polarity in America these days. All sides hold to their own news sources, have different fears and concerns, are not willing to compromise or cooperate on anything, claim different

“God gave us a mind in order that we might learn and receive help from Him, not in order that the mind should be self-sufficient. Eyes are beautiful and useful, but if they choose to see without light, their beauty is useless and may even be harmful. Likewise, if my soul chooses to see without the Spirit, it becomes a danger to itself.…we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, making us capable of spiritual discernment…The indwelling Spirit works in and through our spirits, illumin

“Jesus now describes the guilt of the world. He came to these people with both words (15:22) and sign-miracles (15:24), yet they remained obstinate in their unbelief, and this sin of unbelief was without excuse. Jesus was not saying that if He had not come and spoken to these people they would be sinless; rather He was saying that if He had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of the sin of rejecting Him and the Father he came to reveal. Rejecting Jesus is th

“…he [Saint Seraphim of Sarov] raises the question of how pious activities may affect our life in Christ. Although in Baptism we professed Christ, we may forget Whose we are and slip into supposing that “the Christian life consisted merely in doing good works.” No! There is a purpose for pious activities: to acquire thereby “the grace of God’s Spirit.” All activities in life based merely on doing good, without assuring that they bring the grace of the Spirit of God, are scorn

Quotes of the Day for July 23, 2021 – Thoughts on challenging our understanding of true morality “The basic sense of the word “holy” is “set apart from that which is commonplace, special, unique.” The Lord’s holiness is first and foremost his transcendent sovereignty as the ruler of the world. He is “set apart” from the world over which He rules. At the same time His holiness encompasses His moral authority, which derives from His royal position. As King He has the right to d

“Evil is a mutation, a parasite, an interloper. It is an ancient Darkness that fears and despises the Light. At war with the good, it is an immensely powerful force in human life and human societies…A veil of darkness – the fire of the worldly spirit – surrounds the heart preventing . . . the soul from praying, believing, and loving the Lord as it desires to do…we must look to Christ to contend with the dark forces of evil that otherwise would overpower us. Of all the visible

“We live in a world where actions and choices have consequences. That is what it means to be human. Those saying that the cost of living in a world where such consequences are possible is too high a cost are really asking to live in a non-human world, a world of machines running on programs or animals running on instinct. But God made a world for men and women to live in, a world of consequences, a world full of invitations to joy.” (Fr. Lawrence Farley) “Since God will not a

“There are two ways in which the prayer of a righteous man is effective. The first is when the person praying does so by offering to God his works done according to His commands. Then the prayer is not just a matter of words, blurted out meaninglessly with the empty echo of the tongue, but powerful and living and inspired with the spirit of the commandments. For the true basis of prayer and supplication is the fulfillment of the commandments by virtue. This makes the prayer o

“St. Paul called “that mindset which was in Christ Jesus,” the phronema Christou (Phil. 2.5).”…Our phronema is our mindset, but mental attitude can never be separated from behavior. Our phronema is revealed by our manner of life. Conversely, the way we choose to live shapes and reinforces our phronema.” (Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou) “At the end of his letters, the Apostle Paul often provides practical applications for his teachings. He follows this pattern in Romans…Sa