SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Often when we stand or sit to pray, it is not a coldness of heart that defeats us, nor a lack of will, nor a feebleness of character. It is, rather, the constant flood of thoughts that conquers the mind, which we realize we have little ability to control…As we have seen, it is futile to try to struggle against thoughts by our own willpower; rather, our struggle should be to raise our minds and hearts to the help of the Most High. This we can do simply and instantaneously thr

“Spiritual warfare is what we fight against daily; but let us remember that in fighting the darkness and the adverse powers, we must not open the portals in our armor to become agents of the darkness itself. How is this possible? This is possible when we foment hatred and anger in our hearts. When we judge our brothers and sisters because we see them as the enemy, as someone to overcome and defeat. Christ already defeated death with death. The thief comes but to steal, and to

“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

“Seeking the Kingdom of God isn’t a retreat into the wilderness or a complete renunciation of the world; withdrawing from the world for...

“The Gospel is very simple, and yet we don’t understand it. I’m not impressed with overactivity in the Church, and I’m not impressed with...

“I once confessed to an experienced priest that sinful thoughts were torturing me, and this is what he advised me: “Think of the thoughts...

“But Nietzsche, madman and destroyer of faith, fascinated me. His work was twisted and imaginative, truthful and awful and compelling; he...

“ “Take up your cross,” says Jesus Christ. He didn’t say to create or construct yourself a cross. Christ also didn’t choose or build...

“Prayer is an encounter with God. It’s not just a question of sacred duty, not some kind of religious obligation, and even less is it...

“Real life is lived in the depths of our heart, as is our hell and our paradise. That is where the battle is fought between our good and...