SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“If you can’t defeat a passion, let it take over. If you may not, but really want to, then you may.” Such people tolerate no limits, living by the principle, “Take what is yours”, and therefore any “no” is perceived as a challenge. For them the slogan, “Live without limits,” becomes not just a choice, but an ideology legitimizing selfishness…In the long run, a life without limits does not become a search for happiness, but an escape from yourself—from your responsibility, the

“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

“ On the day of Christ’s birth, the regular events of human history began to be penetrated by eternal events: the Incarnation, the redemption on the Cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the sitting at the Father’s right hand…the Nativity was not properly the beginning of the Life of Christ, but rather a bodily extension of His eternal spiritual presence. His Incarnation was only the means for His entry into the world in order to carry out the strategy designed by God f

“…the witness of Christians generally is seriously hindered in the modern secular world by the great variety of voices that all claim to speak authoritatively for Christianity.” (Dr. Mary S. Ford) “Christ is giving a humbling lesson to His chosen Apostles about how difficult evangelism will prove to be. Even if you are offering people eternal life and entrance into God’s Kingdom, they may not believe you or may not be interested in your offer. Evangelism must be done in love,

“Deny yourself…Adam, also denied himself when he fell into sin, but he denied his real and true self. When the Lord now requires that...

“Bad art doesn’t die thoroughly enough; that’s why it never lives completely, and why bad art is almost always eventually discarded by...

“We often attempt to manage God, defining Him by our own logic, creating Him to suit ourselves. In response to such attempts, God...

“To think in a sacramental way about the world basically means two things. Primarily, it means to see the physical and spiritual as...

“I am becoming increasingly convinced that in our age of inattention, distraction, and scattered focus, the greatest gift we can offer...

“A depraved life always gives rise to the illusion of happiness, and only a virtuous life in the gospel spirit can bring accomplishments...