SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Evil is a mutation, a parasite, an interloper. It is an ancient Darkness that fears and despises the Light. At war with the good, it is an immensely powerful force in human life and human societies…A veil of darkness – the fire of the worldly spirit – surrounds the heart preventing . . . the soul from praying, believing, and loving the Lord as it desires to do…we must look to Christ to contend with the dark forces of evil that otherwise would overpower us. Of all the visible

“We live in a world where actions and choices have consequences. That is what it means to be human. Those saying that the cost of living in a world where such consequences are possible is too high a cost are really asking to live in a non-human world, a world of machines running on programs or animals running on instinct. But God made a world for men and women to live in, a world of consequences, a world full of invitations to joy.” (Fr. Lawrence Farley) “Since God will not a

“St. Paul called “that mindset which was in Christ Jesus,” the phronema Christou (Phil. 2.5).”…Our phronema is our mindset, but mental attitude can never be separated from behavior. Our phronema is revealed by our manner of life. Conversely, the way we choose to live shapes and reinforces our phronema.” (Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou) “At the end of his letters, the Apostle Paul often provides practical applications for his teachings. He follows this pattern in Romans…Sa

“No amount of thinking will ever yield knowledge of God. That is a straightforward conclusion of the claim that the knowledge of God is “noetic.” Second, the knowledge of God is not a psychological experience, per se. I have stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon and felt that terrible vertigo in the bottom of my feet, and the overwhelming sense of its vast and dangerous depth. The knowledge of God is not like that, though it can indeed carry an element of overwhelming otherne

“Do you feel anxiety? ‘No. But why do I have this uneasiness?’ Blessed child, there is restful restlessness and there is also restless rest. Good restlessness always needs to be within us, but not anxiety. When one struggles properly, he is never satisfied with himself.” (St. Paisios) “Anxiety can be a frightening feeling, but it is also the feeling of fear itself. Those two truths are at the core of what can make our anxiety much worse by snowballing into something that gets

“You need an attitude of gratitude!” This was the response that an amazing prisoner gave me, when I asked him how he maintained a positive spirit inside the medium security prison where he lived.…when I asked…what was his secret to living a Christ-centered life in prison, he surprisingly responded, “An attitude of gratitude. You need to always see things for which you can be grateful, and then consciously thank God for them. Never focus on what you don’t have, or on how unfai

“The sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one’s daily life, in one’s neighbors, friends, and family, in one’s back yard.” (Father Alexander Schmemann) “We live in a sea of grace, in a world in which wonder and awe suffuse the whole universe. Often, the work of grace goes unnoticed, hidden both by its ordinariness and its lack of drama. Our culture is fond of singing, “Amazing grace,” with an expectation that what constitutes the work of God will always amaze a

“There is a big difference between having compulsions and being a slave to them. We share in Christ’s victory over sin through our union with Him by our choice and the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit within us gives us the awareness of our sin and the power to choose not to sin. The Holy Spirit within us also gives us the power to sincerely repent when we do sin and therefore maintain our union with Christ. Without this awareness and the assistance of the Comforter,

“Paul often saw himself as a great sinner. He never described himself as a sinner, however, without at the same time referring to the grace of God, which forgave his sins, accepted him, and enabled him to be useful in God's kingdom…Paul in other words exemplified the attitude of believers, who without minimizing [their] sins, refuse to be constantly hypnotized by them.” (Anthony A. Hoekema) “What does my experience tell me when I am the prisoner of sin? I am tormented sometim

“Faith transforms the whole person, heart, soul, mind, and body…Salvation deals with the whole person, for each human being is a unity, body and soul.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Romans 10:5-13, James 5:13-15) “The Lord’s resurrection reveals the great dignity of the human body, which is destined for heavenly glory. Salvation is not an escape from the physical dimensions of our lives, but their fulfillment by our participation as whole persons in the life of Christ. True faith in