SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“…we are content to say that God has no place in our lives. We think we want to be left alone to figure it out for ourselves. We have all seen how well this is working out!...Devotion to God’s will is the peaceful and restful haven in all temptations and sorrows, while reliance on one’s own powers is destructive.” (Reverend Christopher T. Metropulos, D. Min, St. Ignatius Brianchaninov) “The spiritual disease of the last times is the weakening of our will and determination. It

“Understood accurately, asceticism is about Beauty; it’s about attempting to be the sort of artists who won’t betray what they have seen of the beautiful. For example, we don’t fast in order to be good, but rather so that our devotion, our eros for Christ’s Beauty, will be absolute. Moral effort only matters when it expands that ascetic effort into the arena of Goodness. Moral struggle has to be an amplification of asceticism, never a substitute. It has to be the working out

“… ‘The night is far spent, the day is at hand’ (Rom 13:12). Night is the time of darkness, when most crimes are committed. Night is also the sinful state of the soul that does not want to know God and does not strive for salvation. Predators hunt at night, and the enemy of mankind works in darkness, “like a lion roaring after its prey, seeking whom he might destroy.” I am the light of the world, says the Lord. He chases away the darkness of night, and grants people the Light

“Gratitude is strongest in times of want and weakest at times of abundance. This is one of life's greatest ironies…by sharing the little we have with guests, we find that God blesses us with the paradox of abundance amidst poverty…Listen to the stories of people who went through hard times, such as those who lived through the Great Depression or the years of World War II. Certainly there were horrible and frightful moments of terror that elicit pain. But enduring through thos

“Love flares up from understanding that the Lord doesn’t turn away from the impurity and sinfulness of man, doesn’t withdraw from our guilt, criminality, and ungodliness: He never pushes anyone away, but on the contrary, always allows approach, draws near, listens, even caresses, shows mercy, and finally, forgives everyone!” (St. Seraphim Chichagov) “Love is service. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself gave us a great example of this when He washed the feet of the Apostles at the M

“…God Himself takes on human form to reveal man’s vocation and meaning as divine. From this moment onward man is free. Nothing stands over him, for the very world is his as a gift from God to fulfill his divine destiny….Tragically, too many people do not hear this voice of Jesus as the voice of Love Incarnate calling us to repent, to sacrifice, to have sacrificial love in order to have the greatest joy, to have our deepest desires fulfilled, to find our true selves, to fulfil

“For in a very real sense no general ‘man’ – be he American or any other – no ‘society’, no ‘culture’ has at any time truly accepted...

“In the light of Christ, this world, this life are lost and are beyond mere ‘help,’ not because there is fear of death in them, but...

“We live in a culture of statistics – and they hide a lot. They obscure us in the reduction of our lives to generalities. None of us is a...

“The reason the Church puts restrictions on pleasures…is not that she is against them, but she wants you to be able to distinguish...