SACRAMENTAL LIVING

Understanding Christianity as a Way of Life

Daily

“…seek the eternal within the temporal…Welcoming the eternal God into every moment of their lives, the patriarchs allow the light of eternity to shine upon whatever occurs. Indeed, God’s uncreated light illumines the activities of all mortal men when we awaken to His presence. “Even to your gray hairs, I Am. I bear you; I made you and will forgive you. I will take up and save you” (Is 46:4).…we yearn to be united heart, soul, and body with the eternal God – to realize our tru

Purpose

“Each of us is born into this world with an instinctive desire to find meaning and purpose in our lives…I say, as do all Christian men, that it is a divine purpose that rules, and not fate…Many people have accepted that life must be meaningless on the basis of the secular worldview, but hardly any of them live consistently with that belief. People who believe life has no meaning or purpose and that objective truth is a delusion will actually take on convincing you that it is

God's Will vs Self Will

“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

Tested/Testing

““Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham. . . .” By choosing Christ as our supreme authority, we have accepted His challenge: “You believe in God, believe also in Me” (Jn 14:1). Scripture now places before us an incident from the life of Abraham which shows that our faith will be put to the test, for God wishes our trust in Him to endure despite life’s wrenching contradictions. We learn that these tests often involve our dearest attachments; they force

Hope

“The soul that desires to please God needs first of all patience and hope, because one of the tricks of the devil is, in time of trouble, to make us despondent and divert us from hope and trust in God. God never allows those who trust in Him to be overwhelmed by temptations so as to reach utter exhaustion; for says the Apostle, God is faithful and He will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation, He will also dispose the issue of it, and enable you

God's Nature/Our Nature

“Seth was begotten from Adam and Eve. This threefold relationship illustrates, to a certain extent, the Holy Trinity. Adam had no human father. He was begotten by no one. Thus, he was unbegotten. Seth was begotten from Adam. Eve was neither unbegotten nor begotten. Instead she proceeded from Adam (Genesis 2:21). Therefore, Eve and Seth were related to the unbegotten Adam, but each in a unique manner—Eve proceeded from Adam, but Seth was begotten from him. Each person had his

Light

“In all of creation light is the first thing spoken into existence. “God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). The finite mind is tempted to ask, “How can there be light without sources that generate it? How is there day and night without a sun?” Light, however, is the first order of the Word of God…Our loving Lord is Light. If He comes to illumine the world, how then do we still love darkness? Our choice is self-defeating, and yet our practice of ev

Ideas

“In the contemporary world, secularism, neo-paganism, along with eastern spiritualities, abound in the market-place of ideas, confusing many so that they neither hear nor heed the voice of the Lord…In the case of our beliefs in Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Son of God, we can let the deceivers steal them from us. They can plant contrary ideas in our minds that confuse us or replace our spiritual understanding with other notions. Or we can lose our faith in the doctrine of

Obedience

“Often in the Scriptures the word know means not just being aware of something but having personal experience of it. Jesus did not know sin, not because He was unaware of what it is but because He never committed it himself. For although He is like us in every other way, He never sinned. Given this meaning of the word know, it is clear that anyone who says that He knows God must also keep his commandments, for the two things go together.” (Didymus the Blind) “We can be said t

Abstraction

“…Christian life encompasses: a set of beliefs and practices gleaned from experience and a profound way of life, not a system based on regimented acts coldly governed by abstract beliefs and rules propped up with mere emotionalism..” (V. Rev. Chrysostomos) “The great flaw in anti-sacramental thinking is its abstracted notion of “spiritual.” It is presumed that for something to be “spiritual,” it must have nothing to do with the material world. That “talking to Jesus” only con

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