SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“A strange illness has appeared in our days – the passion for distractions. Never before was there such a desire for distractions; people have forgotten how to lead a serious life for the good of others; they have no spiritual life and are bored. They exchange the profound content of a spiritual life for distractions! What madness! It is here that pastors must deploy their strength: they must re-introduce into life its lost meaning and give back to the people the knowledge of

“The Lord said, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23). Note: what must we do for the Father and the Son to come to us and make their home with us? We must love the Lord (above all else) and follow His teaching instead of anything else. Worldly distractions are other loves. Earthly agendas are other pursuits. The aims and ambitions of this world are other desires…It may be that we

“The standard of judgment is uncalculated mercy toward others. The works produced by faith are emphasized, for saving faith always produces righteous works. What we do reflects our true inner state…To see Christ in everyone is the fulfillment of the great commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Matthew 25:31-46, Matthew 25:40) “True participation lies at the heart of all worship and much else in our lives. A marriage, at its best, is a participa

“…the self-help gurus who promote the “just be positive” approach usually live comfortable lives, having achieved a measure of worldly success. By studying those who lived on the other end of the spectrum, in conditions of extreme misery, we can look past the tired clichés to strategies of real substance. When we do, we find that living the good life does indeed come down to attitude, but not in the way that is often supposed….Meaning, not happiness, is what enables us to liv

“We have within us deeply rooted weaknesses, passions, and defects. This cannot all be cut out with one sharp motion, but patience, persistence, care and attention. The path leading to perfection is long. Pray to God so that He will strengthen you. Patiently accept your falls and, having stood up, immediately run to God, not remaining in that place where you have fallen. Do not despair if you keep falling into your old sins. Many of them are strong because they have received

“For it is God Who acted in both an unexpected and also shatteringly decisive way by transforming the tomb into a womb from which emerges new and everlasting life.” (Fr. Stephen Kostoff) “Should I not rather say that the tomb itself is a womb? There is, in fact, a great similarity. Just as the Lord came out from his mother’s womb living, so also He rose living from Joseph’s tomb. Just as He was born from the womb in order to preach, so also now He has been reborn from the tom

“…he [St. Paul] uses a classical means of stating truth through the use of opposites. First he says, “Work out your own salvation” and then, although he seems to contradict himself, insists that “it is God who works in you” (Philippians 2:12-13). In actuality, he is demonstrating the fullness of the truth concerning our struggle for salvation. It is useless for us to try to establish who accomplishes the work of salvation, for the apostle speaks as if both God and the Philipp

“Untended emotional wounds affect us spiritually in many ways. They affect how we behave in relationships—our ability to trust and give up control, to forgive ourselves and others, to love and be loved, to allow ourselves to be vulnerable—and our ability to be in the present moment, both with ourselves and with those around us.” (Fr. Joshua Makoul) “Some people speak of faith as if entrusting our lives to God were as effortless and relaxing as soaking in a warm bath. If we ha

“My family members are weak and sinning human beings who, by definition of living in a fallen state, will wound and seriously offend me. My vocation is to live fully within this sometimes fractured and sometimes united lifestyle, love all my family members through it all, and to try to sustain the gift of a joyful disposition which is from the Spirit.” (Albert S. Rossi) “Note Saint Paul’s prayer: “Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one

“Apart from humility of heart, God desires mercy and peace from us. That is the sacrifice God asks of us. But to offer this, we must acknowledge first that we have fallen short of God’s mercy and peace. We must turn to God in repentance, put aside all hatred and animosity, all pride and injustice, and be reconciled with one another. For we cannot offer mercy and peace if we have none.” (Archimandrite Vassilios Papavassiliou) “The temptation towards hatred is very great and we