SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“In our spiritual life, only seldom do we experience immediate consequences for our actions. Very, very, seldom do I pray and see an immediate physical result. Occasionally, I pray and experience an immediate inner consequence: a sense of peace or calm, or a thought that comforts or encourages me. Most often, however, prayer begins as an obedience, something I make myself do. Then, sometimes, as I pray, I slowly experience some inner consolation or comfort. But just as often,

“In our spiritual life, only seldom do we experience immediate consequences for our actions. Very, very, seldom do I pray and see an immediate physical result. Occasionally, I pray and experience an immediate inner consequence: a sense of peace or calm, or a thought that comforts or encourages me. Most often, however, prayer begins as an obedience, something I make myself do. Then, sometimes, as I pray, I slowly experience some inner consolation or comfort. But just as often,

“… “this world” is not evil in essence, for it is God’s creation. But what is going on in this current time is evil. The forces of wickedness in this world are causing pain, sorrow, and misfortune...The trials of life remind us not to get too comfortable with the affairs of this world…“Seek not honors, seek not glory, seek not authority, nor revenge but bear all things…The aspirations of this life distract us from our hope. They are like the trivial things in a backpack that

“Do you wish to love more? Forgive more deeply! All healing flows from forgiveness. The love of God is demonstrated to the extreme in Jesus, the sinless One, taking our sins upon Himself and giving His life for us The one who loves deeply is the one who knows the significance of that love and becomes a vessel of forgiveness to others. What is love if it is not the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (see Romans 5:5)? Love is the gift of God.” (Neal Lozano) “

“If civil authority receives its power from God, then the Roman government’s execution of Jesus is a sign that God disapproved of Jesus and His messianic claims. But then, there is Christ’s resurrection which reveals that Christ in fact is God’s chosen Messiah and Son, and that the actions of the Roman government and Jewish leaders was in fact opposed to God’s will. What becomes clear is that God was choosing an unusual way to accomplish His will and was showing that the norm

“Distraction serves a purpose. Like gargoyles guarding the roofline of a cathedral, distractions first serve to ward off those who lack proper motivation. In an age when people claim to be “spiritual, not religious”—not really knowing what they mean by either—lack of proper motivation is common.” (Martin Laird) “Our motivations are hidden from others and even ourselves. But God knows the secrets of the soul…the “Logos” (Jesus Christ who is the Word Incarnate) judges the inten

“In the disintegration of human understanding that marks our present age, reason has been reduced to discursive reasoning, i.e. logic. Popularly, it refers to what can be proven by demonstration (and often less than that). At the same time, there has been a groundswell of sentimentality, in which how we “feel” about something has been elevated to a position above rational argument. It is in this context that faith is easily misunderstood. Faith is not a leap beyond the provab

“…do we understand how God takes care of us? Many of us have great misconceptions about this. God has provided for us by being the “book-ends” to our lives. He is the alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. We know God as the creator of all, that we have been given life in this world, and we know that God has our departure from this world and what comes after covered. He does not provide for us by controlling everything that occurs in-between. Our lives that occur in

“One test of spiritual attainment is peace. Those who are truly advanced in the Spirit have peace of mind and share the peace of God… “Wherever God is — there is peace. And the opposite is self-evident: where there is envy, enmity, impatience, self-love — there is the devil. Wherever the devil is — there, everything is ruinous, proud and hostile.” (Fr. Basil, St. Anatoly of Optina) “How do we attain peace? We put aside all…pride and hostility and destructiveness. And we acqui

“None of us can entirely separate ourselves from who we are. Our culture, education, family, nation, and religious background affect the way we view the world. We all accept as true many common presumptions of our era and culture. They are so deeply ingrained that we do not recognize them as cultural presumptions that may in fact not be true.” (Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou) “There is a model of what it means to be human that is simply wrong, regardless of its elements o