SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Being renewed by God’s power, we become partakers of the divine nature. This does not mean we become divine by nature. If we participated in God's essence, the distinction between God and man would be abolished. What this does mean is that we participate in God's energy, described by a number of terms in scripture, such as glory, life, love, virtue, and power. We are to become like God by His grace…” (Orthodox Study Bible, 2 Peter 1:4) “…the apostle [Peter] writes, “… that y

“…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 entire purpose of Great Lent is repentance, which is cleaning up our Christian life, and our church communities so that people will want to come and see more of Christ based on our witness of Him.” (Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis) “In the coming fast we have the opportunity to awaken our hearts and minds to Christ, who calls us to undertake the regimen of fasting. However, He does not wish us to abstain in narrow, slavish obedience to a set of rules concerning the intake

“What lies hidden in the designs of God I confess I do not know—I am only a man—but this I know with full certainty, that, whatever it is, it is more just, more wise, and more solidly based on incomparable perfection than all the judgments of people….God’s will is determined by His wisdom which always perceives, and His goodness which always embraces, the intrinsically good.” (St. Augustine, C.S. Lewis) “The story of Isaac blessing his son Jacob illustrates the intense meanin

“The Church’s tradition of fasting exists to restore balance between body and soul, between penitence and rejoicing, between us and the world around us…When the body is humbled, our thoughts become more peaceful, too. This is the purpose of fasting.” (Archimandrite Vassilios Papavassiliou, Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica) “Withdrawing from earthly things whets our spiritual appetite for Christ’s heavenly gifts…fasting never devalues earthly things, but in a spirit of gratitude re

“God . . . set no limits for any of us on the spiritual plane . . . We are called to eternal life in the Kingdom of our Father which is in heaven.” Yet, as the Lord states, “entry into the Kingdom inevitably entails suffering. Many decline the Father’s gift of love precisely because the utmost effort is required.” (Archimandrite Sophrony, Dynamis 12/18/2020) “John 8:31-42, especially vs. 31: “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” Today’s passage from Saint Jo

“I have often thought that people generally have narrow interests. We want to work, to play, to love our family, to live in peace with some modest level of comfort. Of course, a consumer economy cannot operate in a world of satisfaction. Modern consumption with an ever-expanding economy requires that our dissatisfaction remain somewhat steady.” (Father Stephen Freeman) “The “modern” mindset also holds that “…as our knowledge becomes both broader and more unified, we will expe

“There are very few people who come to their senses, very few who understand life. We pray with our lips only, and we hurry through our prayers to “get it over with” as soon as possible, and then we lose peace. Fasting and prayer are a means of embellishing our soul and bringing it back to its original state.” (Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica) “...God’s answers [to prayers] come from God’s perspective. They are not always in harmony with our expectations, for only he knows the wh

“Our quest for communion with the everlasting God reorients our vision, directing it toward the eternal destiny of all mankind. We understand history and each person’s life from the perspective of our ultimate goal of union with Him.” (Dynamis 4/11/2014) “Our surrender to the Lord must include our whole heart, soul, and mind (Mt 22:37), if we are to unite our spirits to Christ our God. When we are truly joined to Him, He gives us the grace to obey Him. We are to strive to be

“…we must guard against thinking that a humble heart is easily acquired. Although we are attracted to humility, we should anticipate a battle in the soul. The cost of humility on Christ’s terms is an all-out fight against our self-serving pride and vainglory. The humility we perceive in Christ our God requires a lifelong dedication to putting to death our carelessness, arrogance, selfishness, and self-indulgence.” (OCPM 7/31/2017) “Have you ever noticed how most truly humble