SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Once, the monk John the Short told the desert father Poeman that he had asked the Lord to take away his passions. John said that the Lord answered his prayer, and he was at peace: the warfare between flesh and spirit in his heart was over. Poeman replied, “Go and ask the Lord to stir up in you a new battle against the passions. Fighting against temptation is good for the soul.” When the passions attacked John once more, he did not pray for the end of the fight against them.

“We should strive to make ourselves aware of God’s presence at every moment of our lives. Whether we are in church or at home, whether we are playing, vacationing, working, exercising, resting, shopping, surfing the internet, or in any other activity, we need to cultivate in our hearts and minds awareness that we are always in God’s presence.  Creating that awareness of God’s presence helps keep God close to our hearts rather than thinking of God as some distant or remote dei

“Hidden under that English translation blessed is the Greek word makarios. This is not the usual word, evlogitos, which literally means “blessed” (as in having a blessing pronounced on one). Makarios is a word from the ancient world that instead referred to the blissful life of the gods in their heavenly realm. It is also used in the Scripture to refer to the joy, the glory, the happiness, the unity, and the love that the faithful angels share with God. Thus, the part of the

“The average lifespan of an emotion is about ninety seconds. However, when we replay painful memories, or when we ruminate over unpleasant feelings, the lifespan of negative emotions increases. Through unhealthy thought loops, negative emotions can become compounded and self-perpetuating…Most human thought, if unchecked, is negative and critical.” (Robin Phillips, Albert S. Rossi, PhD) “It is very difficult to do a “negative” thing. It is why when we struggle to quit an addic

"Paradox and mystery are everywhere…and are part of the very essence of Christianity itself. Jesus Christ died to defeat death. Through death He gave us life. He who humbles himself will be exalted. If one tries to save his life, he will lose it. The Christian faith is built on paradoxes such as these.” (Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou) “The Book of Revelation takes its name from the first verse, identifying the text as “the Revelation (Apokalypsis) of Jesus Christ” This i

“To be meek means to be gentle and kind, to be empty of all selfishness and earthly ambition. It means, in a word, never to return evil for evil, but always in everything to overcome evil by good (cf. Rom 12.14–21). Meekness means to distrust and reject every thought and action of external coercion and violence, which in any case can never produce fruitful, genuine and lasting results. Meekness is to have the firm and calm conviction that the good is more powerful than evil,

“One of the amazing things about our God is God’s willingness to empty Himself in love for us and for our salvation…Though He is the King of Heaven, Christ comes to earth as a servant of humanity….not only does God suffer pain for us through being flogged and then nailed to the cross, those wounds and scars have become a permanent part of His body, even His resurrected body. In fact, Christ cherishes that He was able to suffer for us in order to save us.  His wounds which hea

“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6) Just as aside – I find this verse so intriguing because Paul has God commanding light to shine out of darkness, rather than into it. God needs nothing to create His universe and is even able to shine light from out of the darkness. Of course, this is not meant to be just a literal t

“One test of spiritual attainment is peace. Those who are truly advanced in the Spirit have peace of mind and share the peace of God… “Wherever God is — there is peace. And the opposite is self-evident: where there is envy, enmity, impatience, self-love — there is the devil. Wherever the devil is — there, everything is ruinous, proud and hostile.” (Fr. Basil, St. Anatoly of Optina) “How do we attain peace? We put aside all…pride and hostility and destructiveness. And we acqui

“The Christian life is, properly, a life of spiritual asceticism in which we seek to shed that which is not truly ours. This is not always obvious (by any means). It is also not entirely private. The “mirror” of the soul is Christ Himself. Were we only looking within ourselves the journey would be nothing more than “anybody’s guess.” Instead, we become like Christ as we steadily gaze at Christ. He is the “measure” of the soul and the singular measure of what it is to be truly