Work/Vocations/Callings (Part 3)
“…God Himself takes on human form to reveal man’s vocation and meaning as divine. From this moment onward man is free. Nothing stands over him, for the very world is his as a gift from God to fulfill his divine destiny….Tragically, too many people do not hear this voice of Jesus as the voice of Love Incarnate calling us to repent, to sacrifice, to have sacrificial love in order to have the greatest joy, to have our deepest desires fulfilled, to find our true selves, to fulfil
Life and Death
“Why was the entire dispensation of history and work of Christ necessary? Could not God simply have saved humankind by fiat?...The solution God has provided is to heal our nature from the inside out. By joining His divine, eternal life to human flesh, Jesus Christ has overcome the power of death; hence mortality will be abandoned in the grave when the universal resurrection dawns. If this explanation is not sufficient for the inquirer, ‘Say something like this to reasonable p
Witnessing
“…the witness of Christians generally is seriously hindered in the modern secular world by the great variety of voices that all claim to speak authoritatively for Christianity.” (Dr. Mary S. Ford) “Christ is giving a humbling lesson to His chosen Apostles about how difficult evangelism will prove to be. Even if you are offering people eternal life and entrance into God’s Kingdom, they may not believe you or may not be interested in your offer. Evangelism must be done in love,
Theosis/Union with God (2)
“God created this entire visible world so that, through man, He might become all in all. This is the human person’s specific mission: to be the link between God and the world, a link between all things, by uniting his spirit with God.” (Fr. Dumitru Staniloe) “It is the meaning of human existence that must be dealt with and not the regulation of human behavior and the legalistic prohibition of human actions, especially when these are dogmatized as ‘the norm.’…The creation of m
Prayer
“Mankind is carried away by other aspirations and goals, created for its own detriment and ruin. There are people who don’t pray at all, who don’t feel the need for it, who don’t understand the point of praying and don’t believe in the possibility of being heard by God; and many people do pray, but rarely and always reluctantly, with compulsion and difficulty. Thus, there are very few people who live by fervent, strong, sincere, noetic, and unceasing prayer, according to the
"God's Absence"
“All things that exist, bad and good, only do exist because God’s uncreated energy, His grace, binds and fulfills and sustains...
Dangerous Pride
“…pride is stupidity. Why? Because how can we be proud when everything we have is not ours? How can I be proud of my appearance if God...
Success
“The material success of modern technology creates an allusion of greatness. To a great extent it only bears witness to power and wealth....
Kingdom of God/Heaven
“Seeking the Kingdom of God isn’t a retreat into the wilderness or a complete renunciation of the world; withdrawing from the world for...
Spiritual Blindness and Deafness
“He [Gadarene Demoniac – Luke 16:19-31] is an icon of our brokenness and represents us all in many ways. He did not ask Christ to deliver...
