SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“While Rome postured and threatened Jesus, telling him that it had the power to kill Him or release Him, He patiently waited for the crucifixion He knew would come. “You could do nothing had it not been given to you from above,” He tells Pilate. God is in charge of the outcome of history, plain and simple. He has, however, entered into history itself, not as its Master and Builder, but as its Savior. That salvation is a way of life, to walk the way of the Cross.” (Father Step

“While Rome postured and threatened Jesus, telling him that it had the power to kill Him or release Him, He patiently waited for the crucifixion He knew would come. “You could do nothing had it not been given to you from above,” He tells Pilate. God is in charge of the outcome of history, plain and simple. He has, however, entered into history itself, not as its Master and Builder, but as its Savior. That salvation is a way of life, to walk the way of the Cross.” (Father Step

“As has been frequently noted in the spiritual realm – if you only read those parts of the Scripture which you like or agree with then you are not listening to God but only to yourself. To correct, improve or sharpen our thinking, we have to allow ourselves to be challenged by God…In the Gospel we find that the apostles’ perfection also grew; it did not appear overnight. It all started with something small, with “hearing” about Christ and an inspiration that carried them away

“Our faith is called Christianity because Christ is at its center. We look to Him, we strive towards Him, and we become like Him…Christ proclaimed the God Whose love we do not need to earn, because God is Love…Christ proclaimed God and showed us in Himself a true man, called to be the image and likeness of God. St. Gregory Palamas says that “God assumes human nature to show to what extent it is free from sin and so pure that it was possible to unite it with Himself in hyposta

“As I stepped outside of my house this morning, I was braced by the cold. A light wind was blowing and the sky was a clear blue, a refreshing change from the rains of the past two days. God was (and is) everywhere present and filling all things, and, in this, He is meek. He provides the opportunity to ignore Him and imagine the world to be inert and to declare Him absent (or non-existent). By the same token, we see suffering in the world and wonder where God is, refusing to s

“The Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews contains these powerful words: ‘Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever’ (Heb. 13:8). God’s love has not gone anywhere from us—it is we who have grown spiritually poor; but grace in the world is no less today than it was in the days of the apostles. We often look for the root of our problems in external things, forgetting that a ship does not sink because of the water around it, but because of the water that gets

“…it’s important to learn to see the small wonders of everyday life. In a drop of rain, in a breath of wind, in a stranger’s smile—in places where we previously didn’t look for meaning—a new discovery of life can begin. In simple things, in the ordinary, may lie the answer to the most complex questions of the soul.” (Viktor Luzhkov) “The physical world is astounding and amazing. It is filled with wonder and beauty. We can often find resonance between the magnificence of natur

“Within the Tradition, and the Scriptures, the knowledge of God (and thus of the self), comes as revelation. It is hidden and must be made known. That which hides God is within us, not outside of us. It is the “pure in heart” who see God. This does not necessarily imply a sinlessness or perfection. Rather, it is a stillness that can see what truly is without turning away.” (Father Stephen Freeman) “We “hear” God in our hearts. We know God through our hearts. We can’t hear pro

“To refer to a god-as-ruler as “false” thus means that He is a usurper. He’s not really in charge. “…there is a more profound logical problem with saying the universe is meaningless. If the universe were truly meaningless, we would never have been able to discover that.” (Dr. Zachary Porcu) “The mind comes from the heart and is expressed through the brain in feelings, words and actions. How great is this mystery—man and the cosmos, the microcosm and the macrocosm! This is a m

“Man has the great blessing of worshiping God. Everyone worships someone or something. Some worship themselves, with their passions and egotism. Others worship their knowledge, their mind, since they received a higher education, know a lot, write wonderful books, and have interesting conversations. Others worship money, land, bank deposits, investments. And others worship sins and pleasures. Absolutely everyone worships something. But we’re called to worship the true living G