SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Why is hospitality incumbent on every Christian? Hospitality flows to us from our provident Creator, who daily sustains us all. These gifts are to be shared with others, as He so richly shares with us.” (Dynamis 10/16/2020) “Because of his hospitality and piety, Lot was saved from Sodom (Genesis 19) when all the country round was judged with fire and brimstone, when the master made it clear that he does not abandon those who set their hope on him but delivers to punishment a

“Why is hospitality incumbent on every Christian? Hospitality flows to us from our provident Creator, who daily sustains us all. These gifts are to be shared with others, as He so richly shares with us.” (Dynamis 10/16/2020) “Because of his hospitality and piety, Lot was saved from Sodom (Genesis 19) when all the country round was judged with fire and brimstone, when the master made it clear that he does not abandon those who set their hope on him but delivers to punishment a

“Gratitude is strongest in times of want and weakest at times of abundance. This is one of life's greatest ironies…by sharing the little we have with guests, we find that God blesses us with the paradox of abundance amidst poverty…Listen to the stories of people who went through hard times, such as those who lived through the Great Depression or the years of World War II. Certainly there were horrible and frightful moments of terror that elicit pain. But enduring through thos

“…when you have fear and uncertainty and you want to calculate, define, and control everything, then you’re not living in reality. You become a neurotic and cowardly person. Remember the Parable of the Talents. The man who hid his talent, who hid his charisma, hid from life—he was afraid to live. What do we do? We fear living. We’re afraid to be. We’re afraid of everything. And so, we don’t live, we don’t exist. This fear of not losing anything will not give you a peaceful li

“It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of thieves.” The Apostle Paul reminds us that we, who are the Church, are also “the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My People’” (2 Cor 6:16; Lev 26:12; Eze 37:27). The admonition contained in this portion of Saint Luke’s gospel is directed at our own church communities, for the identical judgment will be levie

“Our time is filled with sorrows; they are by the grace of The Creator an instrument of God’s Providence, at the same time, they also manage to serve “two masters”, becoming “loyal servants” of the enemy of the human race. It is this weapon that our enemy uses most effectively, undermining the faith of the weak in the wisdom of God’s Providence, causing cowardice, murmuring, and despair. All of this leaves a person with only sorrow itself alone, depriving them of a saving fru

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple (Lk 14.26). This is the extreme and terrifying warning against all passionate attachments stronger and more powerful than one’s passionate attachment to Christ alone. And the greatest passion of all which keeps one from the love of God and the love of one’s neighbor is the sinful passion for oneself. Sinful sel

“Struggle is inescapable, for if we are not struggling in the service of Jesus, we will be struggling in the service of sin…In Christ, by contrast, we have a relationship with the living God. He loves us, illumines us, stands with us, and forgives us as we struggle to have Him and His being formed within our hearts and souls.” (Robin Phillips, Dynamis 9/7/2018) “There is an ascetic imperative, an utter necessity to enter into the struggle that is Christ’s own struggle. We fas

Quotes of the Day for November 14, 2025 – Thoughts on unity and division “Without unity, there can be no diversity (for on what common basis could we then establish difference itself?) while without diversity, there can be no unity (for what would then be left to be unified?)…Unity is good because the Church is One (as is affirmed in the Creed). But it is not good because it is “useful.” Indeed, I suspect that God has allowed our disunity for His own purposes – including savi

“And truly, we ourselves are not at all strangers to the roaring winds and crashing waves of the storm of this temporal life. We live in what many now term “the attention economy.” We are surrounded on all sides by the most powerful corporations and the most advanced technology in the history of the world, all cleverly preying on our psyches to keep our attention constantly fixed on the desires and cares of this world. From morning till night, we are assaulted by advertisemen