SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“As children of the darkness that rules through fear, self-interest, greed, and power, our great motivators are survival and self-preservation. But as children of the light who know that perfect love casts out all fear, it becomes possible to give away all that we have for others. As children of the light, we prepare ourselves to become true martyrs: people who witness with their whole lives to the unlimited love of God. Giving all thus becomes gaining all. Jesus expresses th

“I see paranoia and anxiety increasing in our country – two factors which take away from our sense of freedom, security and safety and add to the mental problems of our society. We need to consider St. Paul’s words: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” That is the daunting task we face as Christians in our society…Some so fear the future that they suffocate the present. It’s like committing suicide to avoid being murdered.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh, Richard Paul

“Our modern self-understanding sees people primarily as individual centers of choice and decision. A person is seen as the product of their choices and decisions – our lives are self-authenticated. As such, we are managers. Of course there are many problems with this world-view from the perspective of Classical Christianity. Though we are free to make choices and decisions, our freedom is not unlimited. The largest part of our lives is not self-determined. Much of the rhetori

“Our reading [Proverbs 10:31-11:12] presents a stark contrast between the path of righteousness and the ways of wickedness. Is it, perhaps, too well-defined? Is there no middle ground, a little bit of evil mixed in with the good, a portion of sin blended with a measure of righteousness? St. Paul answers this question with a question: “For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness” (NKJV 2 Corinthians 6:14)? No, our descript

“…because we fear death we often engage in self-preservation to the point of sin – we are willing to make sure others die so that we don’t. It is not only that sin leads to death (Romans 6:23), but death (or our fear of it) also leads to our sinning (for example committing murder). Just the fear that we might be somehow diminished, or might ‘disappear’, can lead us to be willing to sin against others (to lie, gossip, spread false rumors, discredit, give disinformation, cheat

“Our society values self-reliance. We teach that maturity means that we no longer depend on others for direction or support. When we are fully grown, we should take our own path in life. However, our reading of Proverbs 3:1-18 teaches us the opposite. The wise teacher of Proverbs says, “Trust the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight” (OAB vs. 5)….Most English versions of Proverbs use the word “trust” to translate the idea of taking refuge in God…The H

“On this basis, the prime concern of the Church is respect for and protection of the human person as the distinctive feature of human existence. The person isn’t an individual. An individual is to be understood as a unit, isolated in itself. A person is an identity, a particular presence, which emerges from his or her relationships with other people. It’s been said that the secret of the personhood is free relationships with others and the practical recognition of each person

“It is possible we could have forgiven someone cognitively (with our thoughts and even verbally) but not forgiven them emotionally. Sometimes this occurs because we fear the wrong or hurt happening again and don’t let our guard down. Also, we might, due to our faith convictions, embrace the concept of forgiveness and thus readily extend it verbally, but under the surface we still harbor resentment. Sometimes we do this intentionally and sometimes we are not conscious that we

“Many people, because they’ve written God and Christ out of their lives, think that their existence has been enclosed within the stifling framework of this world.” (Protopresbyter Georgios Dorbarakis) “… a world of almost suffocating immanence, a flattened human universe where the escapes are boredom and distraction, not ecstasy and rapture. Hell is self-consciousness, and our late modern, TV-ized (now Twitter-ized) world only ramps up our self-awareness to an almost paralyzi

“God bless those who clean up the pain and grief of the world without seeking recognition, for their sorrow, too, will turn to joy. May God grant us the grace to relieve suffering as we are able, offer gestures of comfort to those in need, tell the truth with love, and assuage the world’s pain whenever we meet it. And may the Lord say to us, “Come you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom” (Mt 25:34).” (Dynamis 2/17/2023) “When a person truly loves Christ, he cannot but h