SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“The enemy of mankind tries in every way to trouble our consciousness and our lives, ultimately to suffocate our souls with pride and malice. We, as Christians, must understand this and wage spiritual warfare, armed with sobriety, prayer, fasting, humility, meekness, and love for Christ.” (Priest Tarasiy Borozenets) “We have to learn, figuratively speaking, to rise above the clouds. When a plane rises above the clouds, it enters a field of sunlight, where everything is so bea

“One of the clear differences between St. John Chrysostom (and the Eastern Christian tradition) and St. Augustine (and the Western Christian tradition) is that Chrysostom does not see death as a punishment for evil as Augustine did. St. John notes death is part of nature – animals and plants die and they haven’t sinned. So death was in nature before humans sinned. Death is spread throughout the human population, not just because Adam sinned (the idea of original sin is an Aug

“The intersection of earth and heaven was evident in the sacramental nature of early Christianity, with the central role of practices such as Baptism and the Eucharist. In these rites, the physical stuff of creation is imbued with heavenly significance, becoming theophanies or manifestations of the divine…When we begin Christian life in baptism, we are plunged into water, returning to the watery chaos that symbolizes non-being. This indicates that the way the cosmos itself wa

“Ancient people (and most non-Western societies today) did not think in this way. They acknowledged that there were both physical and spiritual elements to the world, but far from seeing them as separate domains, they viewed them as fundamentally interrelated. The idea is that there is a physical component to all spirituality and a spiritual meaning in all physical things.” (Dr. Zachary Porcu) “Ancient people did not believe that the lights in the sky were angels, whereas now

“Our yearning for renewal knows no limits. Even the seemingly mundane things can reflect, like in a drop of water, something truly great… An encounter with God always results in renewal. It has been this way for centuries, throughout the history of Christianity… What is spiritual renewal? It is when you are no longer weighed down by the burden of past traumas and mistakes, your present is filled with joy, and you anticipate the future without fear. We are happy people, becaus

“The character of Christ, who is the Image according to which we are created, is such that human beings are more fully revealed to be what they are as they draw near to Him (or as He himself draws near to us)… The true self, in addition to being the gift of God—His image within us—is also a dynamic movement toward God, whose fulfillment and beauty are “being revealed.” We can describe this process as eschatological. Who I am has not yet been revealed (1 John 3: 2), but is “hi

“Every day of your life is a battle and the field of battle is the human heart and mind. This is where the battle takes place on a daily basis. Whether you pay attention or ignore it, whether you apply yourself or you are negligent, you are already at war.” (Fr. James Guirguis) “Choosing a side means not only standing with the army to which you pledge your allegiance but also actively participating in that side’s combat. Civilians in human war may try to stay out of harm’s wa

“Ask anyone who has spent years struggling with anger, envy, or destructive addictions. He will tell you: “I did not want to do it, yet I did.” Sin never asks permission. It enters the house of the soul silently, through small compromises, and then bolts the door from the inside. A man imagines that he is merely flirting with the world, while in reality he is constructing an invisible prison around himself. The ancient teachers of the Church rightly compared this condition to

“…our concept of human rights would not—and could not—have come into existence without Christianity’s revolution of the concept of the human being….It’s difficult to measure the exact cultural effect of something of this magnitude. But one thing that’s very noticeable is the correlation of the new concept of human dignity with the sudden increase in technological development. Parallel to the weakening and transformation of slavery, Western culture developed an interest in tec

“Why are we so afraid? Why are we so afraid to show our real selves to the world? Afraid to take a stand? Afraid to defend others? Fear. Fear. Fear. The answer is fairly simple. Because of the risk involved. Whenever we draw a line in the sand, we risk losing those who are uncomfortable with the line. We risk being judged…criticized. Misunderstood…most importantly, we risk not being accepted. It is an ancient and primal need of humankind to be accepted.” (Jackie Morfesis) “Am