SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Life is a gift from God, given to us so that we might learn to love God and neighbor…life is a gift given by God and not a right that can be demanded by the recipient. It is a gift and will always be a gift until the day it returns to the Giver. It follows that all the features of one’s life, including physical and mental health, are also gifts. These are not rights to be expected by any man, even were he to receive them all in full measure; and, were he to be deprived of an

“Why is hospitality incumbent on every Christian? Hospitality flows to us from our provident Creator, who daily sustains us all. These gifts are to be shared with others, as He so richly shares with us.” (Dynamis 10/16/2020) “Because of his hospitality and piety, Lot was saved from Sodom (Genesis 19) when all the country round was judged with fire and brimstone, when the master made it clear that he does not abandon those who set their hope on him but delivers to punishment a

“…when you have fear and uncertainty and you want to calculate, define, and control everything, then you’re not living in reality. You become a neurotic and cowardly person. Remember the Parable of the Talents. The man who hid his talent, who hid his charisma, hid from life—he was afraid to live. What do we do? We fear living. We’re afraid to be. We’re afraid of everything. And so, we don’t live, we don’t exist. This fear of not losing anything will not give you a peaceful li

“It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of thieves.” The Apostle Paul reminds us that we, who are the Church, are also “the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My People’” (2 Cor 6:16; Lev 26:12; Eze 37:27). The admonition contained in this portion of Saint Luke’s gospel is directed at our own church communities, for the identical judgment will be levie

“Struggle is inescapable, for if we are not struggling in the service of Jesus, we will be struggling in the service of sin…In Christ, by contrast, we have a relationship with the living God. He loves us, illumines us, stands with us, and forgives us as we struggle to have Him and His being formed within our hearts and souls.” (Robin Phillips, Dynamis 9/7/2018) “There is an ascetic imperative, an utter necessity to enter into the struggle that is Christ’s own struggle. We fas

Quotes of the Day for November 14, 2025 – Thoughts on unity and division “Without unity, there can be no diversity (for on what common basis could we then establish difference itself?) while without diversity, there can be no unity (for what would then be left to be unified?)…Unity is good because the Church is One (as is affirmed in the Creed). But it is not good because it is “useful.” Indeed, I suspect that God has allowed our disunity for His own purposes – including savi

“And truly, we ourselves are not at all strangers to the roaring winds and crashing waves of the storm of this temporal life. We live in what many now term “the attention economy.” We are surrounded on all sides by the most powerful corporations and the most advanced technology in the history of the world, all cleverly preying on our psyches to keep our attention constantly fixed on the desires and cares of this world. From morning till night, we are assaulted by advertisemen

“Love flares up from understanding that the Lord doesn’t turn away from the impurity and sinfulness of man, doesn’t withdraw from our guilt, criminality, and ungodliness: He never pushes anyone away, but on the contrary, always allows approach, draws near, listens, even caresses, shows mercy, and finally, forgives everyone!” (St. Seraphim Chichagov) “Love is service. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself gave us a great example of this when He washed the feet of the Apostles at the M

“Two fundamental truths were incarnate in the Person of Christ: the truth of God and the truth of man. Without Christ, the truth of God would remain foreign to man’s mind and distant from his emotions. God would be an entity utterly removed from man’s experience; the only grounds for extolling Him would be His stark otherness, His sheer separation from our meager, sinful state Without Christ, the truth of man would likewise be obscured. For man would see himself only as a cre

“…God Himself takes on human form to reveal man’s vocation and meaning as divine. From this moment onward man is free. Nothing stands over him, for the very world is his as a gift from God to fulfill his divine destiny….Tragically, too many people do not hear this voice of Jesus as the voice of Love Incarnate calling us to repent, to sacrifice, to have sacrificial love in order to have the greatest joy, to have our deepest desires fulfilled, to find our true selves, to fulfil