SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“…we often lightly pronounce sentence and form an idea about someone based upon… not even the knowledge of different facts of his biography, but much more often upon hearsay, conjecture, and our own opinions supported by nothing, yet influencing us so powerfully that we consider our opinions the sole and precise truth about one or another person. But this is not at all correct—not in 99 cases out of 100, but in all 100 cases. Therefore, if we speak about a negative, disagreea

“…love for a person does not at all mean blindness and thoughtlessness; it does not at all mean some sort of self-deception. The loving person sees the inadequacies, vices, and weaknesses of another, but above all this observation stands another, higher knowledge—namely: that a human being is something immeasurably greater than the sum total of his vices, sins, and inadequacies. Every human being is a child of God, who unconditionally deserves love. And all the darkness that

“Trials should be distinguished from temptations. Trials come directly from the God of Providence, while temptations come directly from the evil spirits, although they are allowed by God. Trials are neither saving nor leading to spiritual death in themselves; they are only reasons for the manifestation of human will in relation to what the Lord gives us. The purpose of temptations is spiritual death, although they disguise themselves as something harmless and even good. Tempt

“Let us talk about life. Do you have anyone interesting to talk to about this? If not, then don’t worry as I have very few myself. If you...

“…the Lord offers us the choice to “eat the good things of the land” or “be devoured by the sword” (Isaiah 1:19-20). What is inescapable...

“An evil person is not someone who is nothing but evil, someone with no redeeming features or virtues whatsoever. An evil person is not a...

“What is the peace of the world? Perhaps we would call it security or safety; the sense that physical walls and human strength,...

“If we look inside ourselves and try to see our tendencies, we will easily notice that we already have a developed habit of condemning...

“The New Testament books tell us time and time again about such a human emotion as joy; we can read about joy in many literary works,...

“One of my students came to seminary when he was already middle-aged, after considerable success in the world. This student was later...