SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“As love, God chooses to abase Himself in fully experiencing the weakness and vulnerability of an infant so that in this supreme act of humility, He can break down the barrier between the creature and creator. His embrace as a helpless, dependent child of His mother very specifically clarifies the type of intimate reconciliation and healing He desires with His creatures. He takes the initiative; He makes himself vulnerable, in every sense of the word. He who holds the univers

“Personally, I believe that one should begin theology not from the mystery of the Holy Trinity, but from the mystery of the incarnation of God, which is directly “imaged” in the reality of the Church and in the “new being” of the Christian. We only know of the mystery of the Trinity because one of the Holy Trinity became man. Otherwise, we fall into metaphysics and never reach theology at all.” (Hieromonk Nicholas Sakharov) “Theology only begins where the cross is. What is th

“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

“God is not an idea, something that we think about, that we discuss or read about, but a Person with Whom we come into living and personal communion. It is something we live, and somebody from Whom we receive experience. Then we see what a great, unspeakable and inexpressible joy it is to have Christ within us.” (Archimandrite George) “Christ did not come to bring us a philosophy from God. He did not provide us with mere proverbs or good advice. He came to reveal God the Fath

“In a culture where materialism is not seen as unusual, it’s fascinating how immaterial the spiritual life is for many…When one’s material needs consume all one’s attention, nothing more will be sought after; the demands of physical life can totally colonize the mind.” (Father Stephen Freeman, Matthew the Poor) “This is important to bear in mind as we go through a world that boasts of its objectivity and commitment to what’s “really there.” To the average modern person, objec

“The word "inspire" means, literally, "to breathe upon," and the word "spirituality," which is at the root of the word "inspire," means the state of having been breathed upon. For this reason, the one who lives a life "in the Spirit", is one who has been breathed upon. This is one who has received the Holy Spirit as his life's inspiration. The 20th chapter of John tells us that the Apostles locked themselves in a room fearful that Christ's persecutors would crucify them as we

“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

“Many people today lack perseverance. We have become so accustomed to instantaneous communication and access to entertainment and...

“We all struggle to persist in prayer…Mercifully, Christ aids us in our labors at prayer. Our King and God presents us with three types...

“…our age is haunted. On the one hand, we live under a brass heaven, ensconced in immanence. We live in the twilight of both gods and...