SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“The Christians who worshipped in that original roofless shrine could look up into the sky, in their imaginations following Christ as He ascended from earth to heaven. There is always something inspiring and uplifting about looking up. The sky is one of the many miracles surrounding us, whether we see it filled with clouds or with stars. Sorrow makes our heads hang down and look towards the earth, while joy lifts up our heads.” (Fr. Lawrence Farley) “Christian hope is the con

“Our culture is deeply transactional…We buy and sell and give rewards to the deserving. We proudly declare, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” For many, there is a deep-seated satisfaction with what they “earn.”…when the “undeserving” are rewarded, segments of the culture fall into deep dudgeon. Perhaps this is a proper way to structure an economy (perhaps not). It is clearly not a blueprint of the Kingdom of God nor the path towards likeness to God. The words of Christ

“Saint Maximos [the Confessor], as we just said, uses the term logos, with a small “l,” for each thing’s specific and particular share of the self-offering of the Logos. By this, the saint indicates that the identity of each thing that exists is a dimension or facet of the “big L” Logos, Christ Himself. Let us repeat, these logoi are not “things” themselves but the particular love with which Christ condescends to each created thing, so that each bit of creation will see in Ch

“For in a very real sense no general ‘man’ – be he American or any other – no ‘society’, no ‘culture’ has at any time truly accepted...

“Since man is “called to be a god” (i.e. was created to become a god), as long as he does not find himself on the path of Theosis he...

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

“By offering our time and energy to attend to the mundane matters necessary for the wellbeing of the Church, we grow in love for Him in...

“ ‘Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him,...

“In the light of Christ, this world, this life are lost and are beyond mere ‘help,’ not because there is fear of death in them, but...

“We live in a culture of statistics – and they hide a lot. They obscure us in the reduction of our lives to generalities. None of us is a...