SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“...in Paradise, each person will see the glory of God in accordance with the purity of the eyes of their soul. The degree of visibility will not be determined by God, but will depend on each person's purity.” (St. Paisios of Mount Athos) “Nothing distances us more from the Good News [Gospel] than an impure mind. What makes the human mind of man impure? Sin makes the human mind impure as milk when you pour in poison; it all becomes poisonous, so the human mind when impure sin

“I see paranoia and anxiety increasing in our country – two factors which take away from our sense of freedom, security and safety and add to the mental problems of our society. We need to consider St. Paul’s words: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” That is the daunting task we face as Christians in our society…Some so fear the future that they suffocate the present. It’s like committing suicide to avoid being murdered.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh, Richard Paul

“Our modern self-understanding sees people primarily as individual centers of choice and decision. A person is seen as the product of their choices and decisions – our lives are self-authenticated. As such, we are managers. Of course there are many problems with this world-view from the perspective of Classical Christianity. Though we are free to make choices and decisions, our freedom is not unlimited. The largest part of our lives is not self-determined. Much of the rhetori

“Our reading [Proverbs 10:31-11:12] presents a stark contrast between the path of righteousness and the ways of wickedness. Is it, perhaps, too well-defined? Is there no middle ground, a little bit of evil mixed in with the good, a portion of sin blended with a measure of righteousness? St. Paul answers this question with a question: “For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness” (NKJV 2 Corinthians 6:14)? No, our descript

“…asceticism is the path to holiness, growth, and stability…If we practice asceticism and strip away our ego, control our ‘false self’, and learn ‘self-forgetfulness’, we each embody the Lord’s Prayer. We have to empty the self (kenosis) in order to become our true self.” (Fr. Lawrence Farley, Fr. Ted Bobosh) “…asceticism “is the struggle of the person against rebellious nature, against the nature which seeks to achieve on its own what it could bring about only in personal un

Quotes of the Day for March 8, 2023 – Thoughts on the spiritual danger of too much inner and outer noise “For those of us in cities and suburbs, any effort to minimize the noise in our lives, to pursue silence and stillness, takes real effort. Modern society is stacked against us, clamoring for our attention in multiple ways, with lots of knobs, buttons, and links to fill the quiet…We have been well trained to expect a constant hum of noise wherever we go.” (Lynette Horner) “

“Humans were made for fellowship with God: this is the first and primary affirmation in the Christian doctrine of the human person. But humans, made for fellowship with God, everywhere repudiate that fellowship: this is the second fact which all Christian anthropology takes into account. Humans were made for fellowship with God: in the language of the Church, God created Adam according to His image and likeness, and set him in Paradise. Humans everywhere repudiate that fellow

“When it is in the “strength” of our hand [Proverbs 9:27]…we should not hold back our charity. We should offer aid to the destitute willingly and cheerfully, just as St. Paul also advised (2 Cor. 9:7). Note that from this standpoint, it is not the amount that is important. We should give according to our ability (2 Cor 8:12). The crucial thing is attitude…From this standpoint, the needs of others are tests of our relationship to the passions that threaten to control our inner

“Our society values self-reliance. We teach that maturity means that we no longer depend on others for direction or support. When we are fully grown, we should take our own path in life. However, our reading of Proverbs 3:1-18 teaches us the opposite. The wise teacher of Proverbs says, “Trust the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight” (OAB vs. 5)….Most English versions of Proverbs use the word “trust” to translate the idea of taking refuge in God…The H

“I will tell you a true story. When I was a deacon many years ago, we met for daily matins at 6:00 am every day. We had a young man in our community who was unemployed and in a public way vowed that he would attend morning matins to pray. However, after a couple of weeks, he slowly stopped attending. A friend of mine asked him why, and he said, “6:00 am is just too early. I just can’t do it.” It was only a few weeks later that this young man got a great job. It was a union jo