SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Our Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples that He had to leave them in order to send them the Holy Spirit. Ten days after His ascension to the heavens, The Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples, we are told “like tongues of fire.” All of the sudden, they were clothed with the Holy Spirit. They each became individually, temples of the Holy Spirit and they became more. I’m going to tell you something that might sound strange or controversial. They became Christs. Don’t misun

“Our plans and interests often interfere with our lives. We make all these plans, believing that we will never succeed in anything unless we arrange everything meticulously…This is actually how the world is. Things do not take place in a linear fashion, but together, and at once. History is not so polite as to “take turns,” waiting for one thing to lead to another. It is, undoubtedly the reason that all human plans fail in the end: we never “see coming” the train that hits us

“One of my daily prayers is for God to open the doors He wants me to walk through and close the doors He doesn’t. Life becomes very simple when we surrender to God’s will.” (Jackie Morfesis) “I firmly believe that God will not only open the right doors in our lives, as I often say, He will close the wrong doors on our lives. Not only the doors, but people also who are no longer beneficial to our souls will seamlessly fade away. I realize given that we are to love our neighbor

“We may abandon God, but He never abandons us. Our actions may cause us to leave His loving embrace, but His love endures…nothing can separate us from God. He is with us, in our health. He is with us in our pain. He is with us in our healing. Yet, regardless of where we are at any given moment, He is still with us.” (Reverend Christopher T. Metropulos, D. Min, Jackie Morfesis) “The presence of the Holy Spirit, then, brings us into the presence of Christ “through faith” (Eph

“Paradise is the place where God dwells. After the creation of humanity, they were brought into Paradise to dwell with God and with the already created spiritual beings. Humanity was meant to grow to maturity and then depart from Paradise, bringing Paradise, the presence of God Himself, with them in order to transform the whole creation into Eden. Instead, by partaking of the knowledge of good and evil, humanity became subject to corruption and ultimately death…The first huma

“…the person who “lives in the Eucharist and through the Eucharist,” to recall Fr. Florovsky’s words, (when, of course, that Eucharist is properly celebrated) becomes accustomed to looking not only “upwards” but also “forwards.” In other words, he gets into the habit of placing himself, his works and history itself under the light and the judgment of the Kingdom, always and in everything seeking its ultimate meaning (“ Seek ye first the Kingdom of heaven and its righteousness

“The thoughts which originate from God bring internal peace and joy to the person. On the contrary, the thoughts which originate from the devil are filled with agitation, disturbance and grief….Our thoughts determine our whole life. If our thoughts are destructive, we will have no peace. If they are quiet, meek and simple, our life will be the same, and we will have peace within us. It will radiate from us and influence all beings around us—rational beings, animals, and even

“Righteousness here does not mean sinlessness; rather, it means wholeness—when a person’s heart is united with God, the true Source. The word of the righteous is not always elegant. It may be simple, even severe. Yet it always possesses a certain vertical quality—it lifts us above the noise and vanity of life. The fruit of such speech is peace. After speaking with such a person, you do not feel “overloaded” with information; you feel revived. Anxiety leaves your soul, and the

“Throw out of your head the idea that you can, through a comfortable life, become what you must be in Christ!...We think as humans, and God thinks differently—there is a deep meaning in His actions, aimed above all at the salvation of our souls. For example, we often think, “This is my place, I feel comfortable here, and it is here that I can attain salvation.” But the Lord sees everything differently and puts us in circumstances that seem very unpleasant to us, but it is thi

“Fasting needn’t be limited to abstinence from food alone, because true fasting is departure from evil deeds. Forgive your neighbor any insult, abstain from causing your neighbor offence, abstain from irritation, from senseless sorrows, from fear, wrath, and so on. ‘True fasting is alienation from evil, temperance of the tongue, setting aside of wrath, casting out of lust, idle talk, lies, and oath-breaking’…This is a true and pleasing fast for the Lord. Departing from these