SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“When we forgive we open doors and we know that this reflects the love of God who opens His arms to us and opens the doors of His kingdom to everyone who would enter with faith. And our behavior towards others must reflect this commandment given by our Lord right before His betrayal and crucifixion, “that you love one another, even as I have loved you.” It is a commandment that is self-enforcing. Either you love and have mercy or you can’t understand that language, it’s like

“Humanity has never run short of ways to distract itself, but in the media age, distraction has become a way of life.” (Sarah Clarkson) “Modern people have a hard time setting their hearts and minds on any one thing. Intervening in our lives is an endless number of media and electronic disruptions. Being “single-minded” may be another thing that contemporary society has left in the past. Many studies have noted the shortening attention span of modern people. The ubiquitous fl

“Ancient people (and most non-Western societies today) did not think in this way. They acknowledged that there were both physical and spiritual elements to the world, but far from seeing them as separate domains, they viewed them as fundamentally interrelated. The idea is that there is a physical component to all spirituality and a spiritual meaning in all physical things.” (Dr. Zachary Porcu) “Ancient people did not believe that the lights in the sky were angels, whereas now

“…true beauty, true spiritual beauty, can never be made artificially. There isn’t enough gold in the world to buy the cleansing, transformation, and remaking of our spirit. The price for that was already paid by the One sent to save our souls and cleanse us from our sins…Perhaps there is nothing so powerful as a testimony of a life transformed. I don’t believe it’s necessary to suffer so deeply that one’s life is crushed seemingly beyond repair, broken into a hundred pieces,

“God creates like an artist rather than a scientist. The language which the Bible and the Fathers employ in describing the creation of the world by God seems to be borrowed from the building of an edifice (Hebrews 3:3-4), ordering and furnishing it, so that it may become cosmos, a well ordered, beautiful thing…There is, of course, major difference between God and a human artist in that the former creates ex nihilo and the latter ex vetere. And yet, when we come to the idea of

“Often, we’re so caught up in the rush of life that even when we’re with loved ones or doing something together, it can feel perfunctory. We rush around, trying to accomplish what we perceive as important tasks. But these very tasks make us insensitive, coarse, and callous, even as we reassure ourselves that this isn’t the case. We might think our outward cheerfulness is a sign of happiness, but that’s far from true. The Holy Fathers teach that one of the primary signs of des

“In my view, the category of happiness is hardly ever discussed in the Church, and for me it is a puzzle. We have nine Beatitudes: blessed are the merciful, blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the peacemakers... If we translate the word “blessed”, it means “happy”. Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, happy are the meek, happy are the merciful, and so forth. These are the commandments of happiness. But, unfortunately, in Orthodoxy happiness is not s

“The Greek word here [for simplicity in Romans 16:18-19] means literally “unmixed”…Thus, St. Paul is saying that in regard to evil, we should not mix evil with good but be pure in our motives, attitudes, thoughts, and behavior…the Gospels themselves, Christ didn’t pay much attention to people’s external image and formal religiosity, but was more interested in the state of their heart. From there proceed “evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, covetings, wic

“If we are honest and confess our personal shortcomings, we have the opportunity to repent. We have the opportunity to increase our gratitude toward God. God will be receptive to our expressions of gratitude if we are sincere. Do we take time to thank God each time following recovery from an illness or surgery? Do we show gratitude to God continually for talents and gifts received during the course of life? Are we always thankful for prayers answered? Are we at peace deep wit

“…humility substitutes for everything. And even if we do not have any other virtues, but humbly realize that we have nothing, then we will be ready to receive the Holy Spirit. Let us try not to forget about this…And let us live in such a way as to be worthy successors of the apostles and worthy bearers of the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is what we are all called to do—to try and humble ourselves before God and our neighbors, to fulfill God’s commandments; and then the Lord