SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“…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 question posed by the Pharisees and Herodians appears to concern Caesar and taxation, but its purpose is to force the Lord Jesus to choose between loyalty to God and obedience to worldly government. Christ, in turn, exposes the deep error involved in making God an alternative to Caesar. Such gross oversimplification distorts theology into manageable human concepts – an impossible task….The Pharisees and Herodians engage in reductionism, which attempts to minimize a compl

“It is so tempting to identify the way of the Lord with whatever or whomever we happen to admire, but that usually serves only as a distraction from the repentance necessary to acquire the purity of heart to which He calls us. Whenever we invoke Christ to reinforce our preconceived notions, regardless of how moral or justified we think our goals may be, we risk becoming guilty of the idolatry of trying to use God to get what we want in this world on our own terms. Those who o

“It is not that talking is evil or that it necessarily cheapens the truth. After all, if God himself communicates and does so in human terms, in the life and speech of Jesus, in the witness of Scripture, there must be talking that is wonderful, revelatory, transfiguring, that takes us into the heart of things. When we have found the word or phrase that anchors us in prayer, the mantra that stills and focuses us, we are discovering something of the grace and power of real lang

“Perhaps the most salient aspect of the sacramental life is something that has almost been forgotten within contemporary Christianity: noetic experience. The fact that I will now be required to explain the very meaning of noetic experience for my readers makes my point. In the writings of the Church fathers, it is assumed that this is the true character of the saving knowledge of God. “Noetic” refers to that knowledge that is acquired by the “nous,” an aspect of the soul that

“In Mark 8:34-38, Saint Mark sets forth the Lord Jesus’ requirement for union with Him: take up your cross and follow Him. Today’s passage reveals two key aspects of taking up the cross – self-denial and service to others.” (Dynamis 1/13/2023) “Our calling is not merely to celebrate the memory of how our Lord called His disciples and apostles, but actually to follow their blessed example of fulfilling their vocations to serve Christ and His Church sacrificially. We must not t

“As the apostle puts it in James 1:19-27, we must be doers of the Word. It is in our doing that we are brought into the Light of Christ, that we truly hear the Word of Christ, and that we know the Christ among us. What does it mean to “do” the Word? The root meaning of the Greek term “doer” is “performer.” The “doer” is an actor…The apostle uses this allusion to the theater as a metaphor. The “hearers only” of the Word is like the spectators of a play. They enjoy the show. Th

“Christ the Word of God pushes His disciples to get into the boat and go out onto the sea which He knows will become stormy. Christ doesn’t spare His disciples such trials and temptations, something we wish He did. Rather, He uses these trials and temptations to help strengthen their faith and trust in God. The stormy boat ride was a means to help prepare them for the trials they would endure when they went into all the world to proclaim the Gospel.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh) “Without

“Faith is critical if we are not to remain earthbound. Divine matters cannot be comprehended with the mind, but we are conditioned in our Western society to believe that the highest level of comprehension is intellectual…the highest level of understanding is not intellectual but spiritual, and spiritual realities are beyond reason, since God’s ways are beyond human comprehension…Intellectual answers are limited and partial at best. It is truly tragic if we willingly remain at

“Jesus’ baptism began His mission of sanctifying all creation, driving out the demons, and reestablishing the rule of God.” (Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick) “For in the sacraments, the laws of nature are overcome to allow the faithful to partake of the Lord's salvation. In baptism, for instance, the water in the baptismal font becomes in a mystery the very Baptism of Christ, by which we attain the forgiveness of sins. Also, in the Eucharist, the bread and wine become in a mystery