SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Why does adherence to traditions—even the most ancient and beautiful ones—not automatically make a person a believer? And where is the very line that marks the point at which a ritual ceases to be a bridge to God and turns into a façade concealing emptiness, or, even worse, a complete mismatch between life and the ideals that are professed? To begin with, any religion—and Christianity is no exception—has two components: form and content. The form consists precisely of tradit

“…salvation is not merely an escape from sin and death. It is that, to be sure. But it is also so much more than that — which is why some of the Holy Fathers teach that Christ would still have become incarnate even if the Fall of Man had never occurred. It is one thing (and an indisputably needful thing!) to put our passions to death…even some of the pagan philosophers put us Christians to shame by their virtue and asceticism — yet these things by no means acquired for them t

“In Christ there is no such thing as sacrifice without deliverance. And deliverance does not just mean remission of personal sins…but the ultimate transfiguration of the world, the overcoming of corruption and death.” (Metropolitan John Zizioulas) “We are saved by His life!” This involves a change of metaphors. The Greek word for “saved” takes us down two metaphorical tracks. The first word picture is the deliverance or rescue from some sort of danger…The second is the delive

“The Greek word here [for simplicity in Romans 16:18-19] means literally “unmixed”…Thus, St. Paul is saying that in regard to evil, we should not mix evil with good but be pure in our motives, attitudes, thoughts, and behavior…the Gospels themselves, Christ didn’t pay much attention to people’s external image and formal religiosity, but was more interested in the state of their heart. From there proceed “evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, covetings, wic

“…the first man to enter Paradise was the repentant thief (cf. Luke 23:42–43).” (Rev. Dr. Oliver Subotic) “I wanted to share this story told by St. Paisius, to show how even scandalous sin does not cost someone salvation, if they are repentant and longing to be free from sin, and longing to be near God. Gosh I wish I could find the original for this story, but this is how I remember it going. He said that there was a monk at his monastery who got drunk every day. He drank vod

“Christians must embody the struggle for holiness in every dimension of their lives and support one another as they pursue the difficult journey to the life of the Kingdom….each of our lives should be seen as a quest or a pilgrimage, which can only be understood in terms of a narrative. Our life-journey is a life-story.” (Fr. Philip LeMasters, Joseph Pearce) “Life in Christ is thus not a journey that happens with angels and demons on the periphery. Rather, it means that He re

“Reading and meditating daily on Holy Scripture is a practice greatly commended by the Church Fathers. “And we, too…should devote ourselves to [the Scriptures] and meditate on them so constantly that through our persistence a longing for God is impressed upon our hearts…Reading Scripture regularly leads us deeper into the ways of Lord, so that we may acquire His perspective on the activities of the world. Scripture provides a light to our minds amidst the swirl of popular opi

“While very detailed instructions are given for other elements of sacrificial rituals, none are given for the means of killing the animals involved. To sacrifice something is not to kill it, but to eat it as a sacred meal. This required its death, whether the sacrifice was of animals or plants (such as first fruits from the harvest and grain offerings).” (Fr. Stephen De Young) “…the empty formalism of ritual sacrifices will not make up for sin. Perfunctory religious practices

“….a child at play is a child engaging in ritual activities. Rituals have rules, meaning, purpose, even repetition. It is not childish – it is merely human…Those who utter phrases such as “empty ritual” (something I’ve heard all my life) forget that it is God who first gave ritual to the people of Israel. This primary story about the faith runs counter to modern intuitions. For we presume that real things and true things are in the mind. It is thought and sentiment that we co

“The second category, hope, occurs when life becomes more troublesome. When things are more difficult and confusing, we may feel an uncertainty about where God is in the mix. We hope the Gospel is true though circumstances may cause us to doubt a little and feel uncertain about what God is doing or if God is really there. We experience the ambiguities of life which cause ambivalence in our hearts and minds. Perhaps we imagine the world should be better than it is if God is th