SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Perhaps a particularly acute aspect of words is their ability to distort and misrepresent. And so, from the earliest times, there has been a prohibition against lying. The importance of speaking the truth is emphasized repeatedly in the epistles of the New Testament, even though it might easily seem to be a minor matter of morality. In our culture, words cascade at a never-ending pace, many of them disincarnate without reference to anything true or real. Arguments abound. Wo

“Christ is the New Adam. He comes to repair the damage inflicted on life by Adam, to restore man to true life, and thus he also begins with fasting. ‘When he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he became hungry’ (Matthew 4:2). Hunger is that state in which we realize our dependence on something else – when we urgently and essentially need food – showing thus that we have no life in ourselves.” (Fr. Alexander Schmemann) “To understand fasting as simply abstaining from meat and d

“Attending church is not the same as being united to the Church. Salvation is not granted by presence in a building, but by synergy—the...

“Two gifts that God has given to man for the good of himself and others and which he should multiply are conscience and faith. The...

“We have to follow our life’s path, although our life isn’t always perfect. Let’s not just stand around waiting for everything to be...

“We are lulled into a form of complacency by our culture’s exaltation of “objective” knowledge. We fail to notice that, even in very...

“I knew a woman who was a self-professed non-believer, though she was willing to believe. Her husband began bringing her to my parish....

“We observe how the Lord often focuses attention on our disdain for one another. We encounter this common attitude in ourselves every...

“…we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears (2 Corinthians 7:5). In this passage St. Paul captures what...