SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“The Scriptures are not a manual on how to live a moral life or how to organize the Church as an institution. The Scriptures are the means by which we come to know the Risen Christ, always through the working of the Holy Spirit…A Christian does not come to read the Scriptures alone and isolated, left to his or her own devices to try to come to the right conclusions that will allow him or her to do what is needed to find salvation. A Christian comes to the Scriptures with the

“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

“There is a saying, “The more we try to control what we cannot control, the more out of control we feel. It is only when we let go of our need for control that we truly gain it.” The reality is that we cannot control all the factors in our life. We have limited control over our health, other people’s behaviors, other people’s emotions, and events in general. Trying to go through life controlling these factors is not only unhealthy but impossible. It is only a matter of time b

“…do we understand how God takes care of us? Many of us have great misconceptions about this. God has provided for us by being the “book-ends” to our lives. He is the alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. We know God as the creator of all, that we have been given life in this world, and we know that God has our departure from this world and what comes after covered. He does not provide for us by controlling everything that occurs in-between. Our lives that occur in

“The sacrificial system of the Old Testament is not the slaughter of innocent creatures in order to appease the wrath of an angry god with their blood. It is the means of the purification of sin, which allows human persons to draw close to God once again and share a sacred meal of communion…the death of Christ is not the ultimate example of God avenging His justice through punishing His Son. Rather, it is the Son offering Himself up to be eaten as food by the faithful to puri

“Effective witness requires that we first learn to rely on the Spirit to help us….You can’t witness effectively by relying on your own strength, because fear will keep you from speaking out for God. Only by relying on the power of the Holy Spirit can you live and witness for Him.” (Foundation Study Bible, Acts 1:8, Life Application Study Bible, Micah 3:8) “Let us take heed about this: what we are called to is not simply preaching in the sense of communicating some information

“God granted one hundred years while the ark was being made to that generation, and still they did not repent. God summoned beasts that they had never seen and still they showed no remorse. He established a state of peace between the predatory animals and those who are preyed upon, and still they had no awe. God delayed yet seven more days for them, even after Noah and every creature had entered the ark, leaving the gate of the ark open to them. This is a wondrous thing that

“God and His Word are one. To trust in God is to trust in what He has spoken. Faith is based on God's word. Christ dwells in the heart of the believer to the extent His word indwells in him. The apostle Paul exhorts the believer to seek God's word as the possession of the heart. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly" (Col. 3: 16). Christ abides in us when His word indwells the heart, because the word releases the presence of Christ. The spoken word is the extension of t

“The Lord Jesus clearly teaches in this parable [Parable of the Sower - Mark 4:1-9] that there is irresistible power in life, physical and spiritual alike. Everything that can be called life flows from God; it comes from His Person. For this reason, Christ our God says, “I am the . . . life” (Jn 14:6), which makes the parable exciting. He who is Life yields life many times over.” (Dynamis 9/4/2020) “The “works” that a Christian does, are properly done in union with Christ, su

“The first evangelist was Jesus Christ. He is still the model. He set the standard for all evangelists. We read in Luke 4:18 how the Lord connected preaching the Gospel to the anointing of the Holy Spirit: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel. He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." (Father Eusebius Stephano