SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Sometimes the only and best way to enter into the cell of your soul is to disconnect from the outside world and simply immerse yourself in silence. It’s precisely in silence that we’re able to hear the voice of God. It may seem scary at first; the silence may frighten and irritate us, since we’re so accustomed to noise, music, conversations. But it’s only in silence that you can sense God and the peace of Christ. But the inner silence that we acquire through prayers and sobr

“…humility substitutes for everything. And even if we do not have any other virtues, but humbly realize that we have nothing, then we will be ready to receive the Holy Spirit. Let us try not to forget about this…And let us live in such a way as to be worthy successors of the apostles and worthy bearers of the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is what we are all called to do—to try and humble ourselves before God and our neighbors, to fulfill God’s commandments; and then the Lord

“…I can tell you that being loved by God, and loving Him in return, is the greatest joy given to creatures, and that without it there is no real and lasting happiness for humanity…Because we are commanded to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and are also commanded to love our neighbor, our fellow human beings, as ourselves, it is proper that we should therefore place a special focus on that one unique person who is both our God and our neighbor: I mean, o

“This serpent has many tongues and teeth, often very subtle and inconspicuous. Every kind of care for the flesh, self-gratification—these are the tongues of this poisonous snake. But the most important of them is self-love, when a man thinks and cares too much about himself, about his own comfort.” (St. Seraphim Zvezdinsky) “Thinking of ourselves first leads us to believe the lies Satan whispers. He tells us that happiness comes from things, property, and sensual activities a

“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

“… Health comes first!...most people who cite this saying think exclusively of bodily health, which…is undoubtedly very important. This form of health enables us to live a quality life and to carry out our daily activities without hindrance; as such, it represents a gift from God that should be carefully preserved and nurtured…bodily health, however significant and necessary it may be, has its own “expiration date”—sooner or later it will leave us. Ultimately, earthly life it

“In the Bible there is a direct command: “The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God” (Exodus 23:19)…As the Apostle Paul writes: For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy (Romans 11:16)…We give the Lord a small portion in order to sanctify our right to use everything else… what about time? Time is our modern harvest. And here the law of the firstfruits works just as strictly. The first thought is the “firstborn” of

“The gift of speech is the greatest gift and corresponds to man’s need for expressing feelings, for exchanging thoughts, impressions, and conversations. But nothing can do more harm to one’s neighbor and nothing can so easily destroy as verbosity, which the enemy uses cunningly and especially successfully to catch people in his nets.” (St. Seraphim Chichagov) “We live in a remarkable and frightening time—the age of an information flood. Every day, through the screens of our s

“The Greek word koinonia means “community” in its deepest and most mysterious sense. God Himself, existing in the Trinity, is koinonia in His very nature. We can only truly understand ourselves when we lay claim to the image of God. We must recognize that, like God, the truth of who we are centers in our community. Our very nature demands that we fully embrace our relationships with others…Why were we created? God created humans for loving relationships. If God is love, then

“Someone begins to lose faith when his mind lacks the knowledge of God. A very common excuse, “How can I believe in God if there is so much evil in the world?” shows that the person in question knows very little or even practically nothing about the true faith. Evil appeared in people’s lives with sin, and the cause of injustice, betrayal, murder and other horrors is precisely sin. Let’s recall the First Epistle of the Apostle John the Evangelist: We know that we are of God,