SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“We are God’s vineyard, charged with bearing fruit and offering “the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name” (Heb 13:15). We are to abide in Him or risk being “cast out as a branch and . . . withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned” (Jn 15:6). Let us give God His due in the time allotted to us. Sin is around us and within us. Its allure deceives us so that we often fail to consider the cons

“Man-centered ritualism is deadly….Ascetic practices—prayer, fasting, almsgiving—are taught by God (Matthew 6), but enemies lie along that path as well. Submitting to created realities, heeding human traditions, the deception of feeding the flesh when you think you are denying it, are false asceticism and condemned as pride.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Colossians 2:16-23) “A casual reading of this passage [Colossians 2:20-3:3] might lead us to conclude that the apostle[St. Paul]

“When our Lord reads Isaiah (Isaiah 61:1-2), He declares its prophecy fulfilled: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, / Because He has anointed Me” (vs. 18). In other words, salvation has arrived, the year of the Lord’s favor (vs. 19). This fulfillment includes the preaching of good news to the destitute. This “good news” defines the nature of the salvation Christ brings to the world: a deliverance achieved in and through His Person and extended to the entire world through the

“Our modern world encourages us to prepare for the future through retirement accounts, good education for our children, and insurance to protect our valuables against foreseeable risks. These plans, however, are designed for “time-limited” hereafters, for they encompass a period that lies just over the horizon in terms of the days, months, and years ahead. Compare this timeline with the words of the Lord Jesus concerning the future: “Heaven and earth will pass away” Luke 28:3

“Our world is a material world. We are constantly presented with technological advances and improvements and sentiments such as: “He who has the most toys wins!” We must learn how to hold on to material things lightly with our fingertips, rather than grasp them firmly with our fists, if we are to avoid being mastered by them. We are stewards of the world, not owners.” (Fr. Joseph Irvin) “Reverence for material things is in itself a healthy and natural movement of the heart an

“…we have a misleading idea at the very head of our Constitution: the pursuit of happiness. One can not pursue happiness; if he does he obscures it. If he will proceed with the human task of life, the relocation of the center of gravity of the personality to something greater outside itself, happiness will be the outcome.” (Alexis de Tocqueville) “Modern western man has some basic misconceptions about the nature of happiness. The origin of the word is instructive: happiness s

“In times of suffering, the Church encourages us to fully experience our story… Deepening our understanding of our faith relinquishes our need to tell each other empty words like “God won’t give you more than you can handle” and “He/she is in a better place.” Instead, it allows us to offer prayer, presence and understanding that strengthen our relationship to God and each other. If we put aside the pressure to speak, we recognize silence is not awkward; it is prayerful stilln

“God’s ways always exceed our comprehension and our capacity to predict…God’s ways ultimately defy our human reasoning and calculations… God can overcome impossible conditions…God overcomes what we cannot defeat, attains what we cannot achieve, and provides what we lack.” (Dynamis 3/29/2018) “God’s ways are not our ways. God has a way of turning things upside down. He has a way of bringing us to Himself even when things don’t turn out the way we expect.” (Father John Zeyack)

“…an open-ended obedience to God’s call constitutes the nature of true faith. First, we obey. Only afterward do we grasp what God intended all along. Faith is stepping forth into the unknown so that we may learn to experience directly the mind of God. Genuine faith…consists in trusting God over the course of many years of seeming contradictions. True faith waits on God for the outcomes that He promises… To have faith means acting obediently, with open-ended trust in God, neve

“Many of life’s rewards seem to go to the intelligent, the rich, the good-looking, or the powerful, but the Kingdom of God is equally available to all, regardless of position or abilities. We come to Jesus not through strength or brains but through childlike trust…Part of the exciting adventure of following Christ involves discovering one’s service contribution and then making it available to God.” (Life Application Study Bible, Luke 10:21, 1 Corinthians 12:6) “We might not b