SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“I believe that Christians make a serious mistake when we begin to speak first about God rather than first about Christ and His death on the Cross and resurrection from the dead. It is a mistake because it presumes we know something about God that is somehow “prior” to those events. We do not, or, if we think we do, we are mistaken. The death and resurrection of Christ are the alpha and the omega of God’s self-revelation to the world. Nothing in all of creation is extraneous

“The beautiful is identical with The Good, for all things seek the beautiful and the good at every opportunity, and there is no being that does not participate in them. They extend to all that is, being whatever is truly admirable, sought for, desired, pleasing, chosen and loved. Observe how the divine force of love –that power of Eros pre-existing in the good—has given birth to the same blessed force within us, through which we long for the beautiful and the good in accordan

“Repentance in deep mourning and joined with confession is what unveils the eyes of the soul to see the great things of God.” (Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos) “ ‘The soul is a mirror.’ The proper function of the soul is to reflect the life of God (we are His image). It is striking that the emptiness and disgust of the [prodigal] son is met with the welcome of the father (who only sees him as son). He is welcomed, clothed, honored, and feted. He was created for this. It is th

“What is the sign to a man that a certain sin is forgiven? The sign that a sin is forgiven is that the sin does not generate any activity in your heart and that you have forgotten it to such a degree that, in conversation about a similar sin, you do not feel any inclination toward that sin, but rather consider it something totally foreign to you.” (Venerable Isaiah the Recluse) “We may think that we can hide the disposition of our hearts. But we cannot conceal anything from t

“…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

“The ethic of Limitless Love demands that we should be able to recognize the presence of God in the very sin that the sinner commits…You must not think I mean that God approves of the sin or encourages the sinner. I simply mean that even in an act of sin God is, to a certain extent, present…Everything that happens—the bad act as well as the good—has its roots in the being of God. Only because God gives us our being (or rather lends it to us) are we in existence at the very mo

“Saint Paul,…says that he would rather address five comprehensible words to the Church, for the benefit of others than thousands of words in a language no-one understands.” (St. Gregory of Nyssa) “If you…don’t learn to speak to people in the world around you…You may attract a few converts who are looking for some esoteric brand of Christianity, but eventually you’ll [your church will] disappear… meaning needs to be made clear and comprehensible… if the Son of God came as “the

“There is a big difference between having compulsions and being a slave to them. We share in Christ’s victory over sin through our union with Him by our choice and the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit within us gives us the awareness of our sin and the power to choose not to sin. The Holy Spirit within us also gives us the power to sincerely repent when we do sin and therefore maintain our union with Christ. Without this awareness and the assistance of the Comforter,

“Man follows his desire. One can even say that man is desire, and this fundamental psychological truth about human nature is acknowledged by the Gospel: ‘Where your treasure is,’ says Christ, ‘there shall your heart be.’ A strong desire overcomes the natural limitations of man; he does things of which ‘normally’ he is incapable…The only question, therefore, is whether we desire the right things, whether the power of desire in us is aimed at the right goal or whether—in the wo

“During this season of mask-wearing, we have become weary of a “faceless” existence. I can think of nothing that is more de-personalizing that the hiding of our face. I respect the science (and certainly would not want a surgeon operating on me without a mask). But I lament our common experience even as I pray for this time to pass. I also think, however, of how many masks we have all worn in our lives. We find many ways to hide our face – our true face.” (Father Stephen Free