SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“ [‘For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.’ (2 Cor 13:4]…This is a difficult passage which causes problems for many people. What is meant here by “weakness”? In Scripture weakness can refer to bodily illness, and it can also mean not being securely grounded in faith. But there is a third possibility, and that is what we find here. Weakness can mean perse

“We will become whatever we focus on the most. The Israelites exchanged their glories (their Perfect You as image bearers of God) for the image of the golden calf, and we too can lose ourselves trying to be what we are not called to be (Exod. 32:4; Rom. 1:18–25). We become what we love, so we must learn to love our God by seeing his incredible piece of eternity inside of us.” (Robin Phillips) “Our culture champions the mind. We think of ourselves as far more brilliant than th

“Jesus is repeatedly identified with light in the Gospel of John. In the prologue, we are told that "the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it" (John 1:5). In the last teaching of his public ministry, he says, "I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness" (John 12:46). In the middle of his public ministry, in the verse that inspired the conclusion of our prayer, he goes beyond metaphor

Quotes of the Day for September 2, 2021 – Thoughts on reclaiming and/or dwelling on sin “St. Paul describes the power of sin (the law of sin) in his life. He acknowledges there is a spiritual warfare going on in his heart and mind over which he is not in full control. It is a spiritual battle that wearies him, and yet he finds strength and comfort in Jesus Christ our Lord. It is an amazingly honest comment from St. Paul who sometimes gives us the impression that once baptized

“When we desire to grow in the spiritual life, we might be tempted to disregard and even denigrate the body. We might treat it as the seat of the passions and the source of the corruption of our soul. However, Paul says that we should “glorify God in your body and your spirit” (OSB 1 Cor. 6:20). In itself, the body is neither moral nor immoral. But the body can be either sanctified (1 Thessalonians 5:23) or defiled (1 Cor. 3:17). The body is God’s creation meant to be the “te

“That God’s Word can enter through the ear and become incarnate in us is reflected in the Church’s reliance on the orally proclaimed word (the Epistle and Gospel read at any service): Let us listen to the Gospel. Not read, but listen! There is power in listening, hearing. We proclaim the glad tidings with great power so that we hear what God is saying – we allow the proclaimed Word to enter our ear so we can become doers of the Gospel. But he who looks into the perfect law, t

“…it may seem to be a surprising question since our society assumes that our goal in life should be to fulfill our dreams, whatever they may be. But in our reading of 1 Corinthians 7:12-24, Paul states “Let each [believer] remain in the calling in which he was called” (1 Cor. 7:20). We may react to this passage because it seems to accept slavery, though St Paul says that “…if you can be made free, rather use it [take the opportunity] (1 Cor. 21). But it also seems to counter

“Having come to his own country, [Jesus] is not so intent upon miracles. He does not want to inflame them into further envy or to condemn them more grievously by the aggravation of their unbelief. Yet he presents his teaching, which possesses no less wonder than his miracles.” (St. John Chrysostom) “There is such power in the body and blood of Christ communicated to us in the eating and drinking of His gifts (Jn 6:54–56) that to do so in willful disregard of the Lord could re

“Jesus now describes the guilt of the world. He came to these people with both words (15:22) and sign-miracles (15:24), yet they remained obstinate in their unbelief, and this sin of unbelief was without excuse. Jesus was not saying that if He had not come and spoken to these people they would be sinless; rather He was saying that if He had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of the sin of rejecting Him and the Father he came to reveal. Rejecting Jesus is th

“We complicate our lives terribly by our thoughts and desires…the fact that we have desires is not the problem; our problem is that our desires have become twisted out of shape and need fixing…The more we have struggled to take even small steps toward the healing of our souls, the more our disordered desires and spiritual maladies have reared their ugly heads.” (Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Fr. Lawrence Farley, Fr. Philip LeMasters) “…we are what we want. Our wants and longin