SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“The word of the day is “freedom.” What do people have in mind when they seek freedom? They seek release from whatever controls or threatens to restrain them. And yet, in the name of freedom, many let themselves be dominated by all sorts of indulgences: the pursuit of fame, wealth, adventure, comfort, lust, and power…St. Philaret of Moscow spoke about the person who thinks freedom means the ability to do whatever he wants. He writes, “But such a man uses external freedom only

“Sin remains an affront to the holy God. It alienates us from God again as if Christ had not reconciled us to our Creator. So it puts us in danger of losing the blessings of eternal life that are given to us by belief and baptism (Mark 16:16). And because we are members of one another, sin affects the whole Body of Christ. Some sins are especially contagious and contaminate the entire community of faith. Therefore, we need not fear anything in this world. But we do need to fe

“The abstraction that we call “thinking,” etc., in the contemporary world is a diminishment of what it means to be human. We have learned to focus on a very narrow stream of information, and, in turn, have come to be possessed by the information on which we focus.” (Father Stephen Freeman) “…one of the fundamental traps of the spiritual journey: identification with our thoughts and feelings. If we think we are our thoughts and feelings, we go through life simply reacting to w

“A confusing aspect of our Christian growth is that we can, sometimes even at the same moment, have a very peaceful, godly thought full of love for God and neighbor, and then have a terribly sinful and embarrassingly nasty thought. How can this be? If God is alive in us, how can such terrible thoughts keep appearing in our minds? How do we combat this? One unhelpful way to combat this experience of good thoughts followed by bad thoughts is to become angry with ourselves, thin

“We live in a world where actions and choices have consequences. That is what it means to be human. Those saying that the cost of living in a world where such consequences are possible is too high a cost are really asking to live in a non-human world, a world of machines running on programs or animals running on instinct. But God made a world for men and women to live in, a world of consequences, a world full of invitations to joy.” (Fr. Lawrence Farley) “Since God will not a

“Asceticism does not consist of prohibitions. Asceticism is activity, a working out, a perfection of oneself . . . inspired by the task of inspiration…When you have no theology of asceticism because you believe you’ve got salvation wrapped up, then cultivating virtue has no incentive. All that’s left is activism and activities.” (Father Georges Florovsky, Father Andrew Stephen Damick) “In the first stage a man turns from darkness to light, from the domain of Satan to God; in

“ ‘So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7). Paul’s purpose was not only for money to be contributed to the poor but for it to be contributed with great eagerness. Likewise, God appointed almsgiving not only for the nourishment of the needy but also for the benefit of the providers, and much more so for the latter than for the former. For if he considered only the interest of the poor

“ ‘And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure’ (1 Corinthians 4:12). The apostles have endured all kinds of humiliation, being treated as filth, and instead of fighting back have responded with love toward their persecutors—all for the joy of serving Christ and reconciling the world to God.” (Orthodox Study Bible, 1 Corinthians 4:12-13) “As we plot our strategies, here is St Paul reminding us that we who are apostles – we wh

“Life in Christ is never a bed of roses. He promised pruning. But if we respond to the Gardener’s tending as fruitful branches, yielding the sweet wine of virtue, we have the joy of knowing that He chose and appointed us to go and bear fruit—in good times, in bad times, and in eternity…The most fruitful and the most joy-filled Christians are the most pruned Christians." (Fr. Mark Sietsema, Bruce Wilkinson) “Jesus makes a distinction between two kinds of pruning: (1) cutting o

“..the glory of God is man fully alive, the glory of God is the human person fully alive, living in loving relationships in harmony with nature and under God.” (Father John Zeyack) “…unless we are creators, we are not fully alive…Creativity is a way of living life, no matter what our vocation or how we earn our living. Creativity is not limited to the arts or having some kind of important career.” (Madeleine L'Engle) “Another of our saints, who lived quite early on in the