SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“The challenge today is not so much that people don’t believe in God; it’s that they don’t believe in a personal God. There is more of a sense that God is “something up there” as opposed to “someone who is here…Without ceasing to be “up there”, God is now also “down here” among us, saving His world from the inside out.” (Sacramental Living Ministries, Fr. Lawrence Farley) “Sky is a thirteenth-century borrowing from Old Norse, referring to the clouds or the region where the cl

“Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one (Col. 4:6), teaches the Apostle Paul. Speech is our main means of communication, and it is precisely speech that can build up or destroy, bring light or utter darkness. The Apostle Paul is speaking about everyday speech—the words we use in all of life’s ordinary situations. Even the simplest words we say on the phone, in a shop, or type in comments should be filled wi

“Personally, I believe that one should begin theology not from the mystery of the Holy Trinity, but from the mystery of the incarnation of God, which is directly “imaged” in the reality of the Church and in the “new being” of the Christian. We only know of the mystery of the Trinity because one of the Holy Trinity became man. Otherwise, we fall into metaphysics and never reach theology at all.” (Hieromonk Nicholas Sakharov) “Theology only begins where the cross is. What is th

“God is not an idea, something that we think about, that we discuss or read about, but a Person with Whom we come into living and personal communion. It is something we live, and somebody from Whom we receive experience. Then we see what a great, unspeakable and inexpressible joy it is to have Christ within us.” (Archimandrite George) “Christ did not come to bring us a philosophy from God. He did not provide us with mere proverbs or good advice. He came to reveal God the Fath

“Love flares up from understanding that the Lord doesn’t turn away from the impurity and sinfulness of man, doesn’t withdraw from our guilt, criminality, and ungodliness: He never pushes anyone away, but on the contrary, always allows approach, draws near, listens, even caresses, shows mercy, and finally, forgives everyone!” (St. Seraphim Chichagov) “Love is service. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself gave us a great example of this when He washed the feet of the Apostles at the M

“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

“…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...

“Deny yourself…Adam, also denied himself when he fell into sin, but he denied his real and true self. When the Lord now requires that...

“Christ seeks to examine within the heart of each believer. Have we embraced forgiveness of others truly? Have we embraced it in the same...

“Christ then appears through shut doors in the midst of them and tells them one thing: ‘Peace be with you.’ For these to be the first...