SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“…love is to be actively expressed through tangible behavior. Hence when Saint Luke quotes Deuteronomy 6:5 [you shall love the Lord our God from your whole heart, from your whole soul, and from your whole power], the passage serves as the prelude to the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37) – a story that demonstrates how love for God is to be expressed to others in a tangible way. Crucial to a correct application of the Shema and the great commandment to love is the ve

“The question posed by the Pharisees and Herodians appears to concern Caesar and taxation, but its purpose is to force the Lord Jesus to choose between loyalty to God and obedience to worldly government. Christ, in turn, exposes the deep error involved in making God an alternative to Caesar. Such gross oversimplification distorts theology into manageable human concepts – an impossible task….The Pharisees and Herodians engage in reductionism, which attempts to minimize a compl

“We are taught by our Lord Jesus to pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. As Christ’s disciples, we are supposed to discern God’s will and do it. However, in life we daily must make countless choices in seemingly mundane matters in which “God’s will” might not be clear or even meaningful to us. We make countless choices and plans every day and as St James notes above we should always have the mindset that we will do these mundane and social activities admi

“People who are humble, don’t have a tongue that makes observations about others who show neglect or who are living a casual life. They don’t have eyes that look out for failings in others, nor ears to listen to something that doesn’t benefit their soul. They aren’t concerned with other people, only with their own sins. They’re peaceable towards everyone, not because of friendship but because of God’s command. If you fast all week and undertake great labors, but are outside t

“Of all the blessings of God, peace is one of the most sought-after. We begin our litanies in the Liturgy with the invitation, “In peace let us pray to the Lord”…And we follow with the petition for “peace from above.” However, we pray not only for heavenly peace but for peace in our world. So we pray for “peaceful times”…And later we pray for those in government that they enjoy “peaceful times.” Thus in their “tranquility,” we may live a “calm and peaceful life”…Peace is nece

“Unresolved grief will linger until it is processed and dealt with—we can run, but we can’t hide. Many times we are afraid to grieve, thinking we may become lost in our grief and not be able to find our way out. However, grieving hidden losses is a necessary part of our healing and theosis, our striving to attain union with God…Grief often comes in waves, so we need to be careful not to prematurely declare our grieving process over. Those who have experienced intense grief co

“Those who stop short of love, hindered by legalism, miss the message of the cross…Legalism does not understand the nature of divine commands, refuses to face the complexity of many ethical dilemmas, and waives any primary obligation for showing compassion…legalism can make you insensitive to God’s mercy.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Galatians 5:6-12, Rubel Shelly) “…our insensitivity, our indifference, and the negative memories we create in others can play a role in someone not r

“...all introspection is in one respect misleading. In introspection we try to look “inside ourselves” and see what is going on. But nearly everything that was going on a moment before is stopped by the very act of our turning to look at it…Unfortunately this does not mean that introspection finds nothing. On the contrary, it finds precisely what is left behind by the suspension of all our normal activities; and what is left behind is mainly mental images and physical sensati

“It is so tempting to identify the way of the Lord with whatever or whomever we happen to admire, but that usually serves only as a distraction from the repentance necessary to acquire the purity of heart to which He calls us. Whenever we invoke Christ to reinforce our preconceived notions, regardless of how moral or justified we think our goals may be, we risk becoming guilty of the idolatry of trying to use God to get what we want in this world on our own terms. Those who o

“It is not that talking is evil or that it necessarily cheapens the truth. After all, if God himself communicates and does so in human terms, in the life and speech of Jesus, in the witness of Scripture, there must be talking that is wonderful, revelatory, transfiguring, that takes us into the heart of things. When we have found the word or phrase that anchors us in prayer, the mantra that stills and focuses us, we are discovering something of the grace and power of real lang