SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“…humans weren’t created as perfect beings but rather had the potential to choose perfection or move away from it. So too Paradise was not a perfect world but had the potential to become that if the humans made appropriate choices and decisions. The world from the beginning had great potential as did the first humans. Perfection was something that was to be realized by the humans who were capable of choosing the good and moving towards perfection or choosing the evil and movi

“But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear (Mt. 13:16). This is the blessedness of being able to receive revelation spiritually. Not everyone who listens hears, and not everyone who looks sees. The Lord calls the disciples “blessed” for becoming worthy to know the mysteries of the Heavenly Kingdom. To know in the Biblical context means not only to perceive some theoretical information, but also to experience and partake of what is Known, graciously

“This serpent has many tongues and teeth, often very subtle and inconspicuous. Every kind of care for the flesh, self-gratification—these are the tongues of this poisonous snake. But the most important of them is self-love, when a man thinks and cares too much about himself, about his own comfort.” (St. Seraphim Zvezdinsky) “Thinking of ourselves first leads us to believe the lies Satan whispers. He tells us that happiness comes from things, property, and sensual activities a

“Why are we so afraid? Why are we so afraid to show our real selves to the world? Afraid to take a stand? Afraid to defend others? Fear. Fear. Fear. The answer is fairly simple. Because of the risk involved. Whenever we draw a line in the sand, we risk losing those who are uncomfortable with the line. We risk being judged…criticized. Misunderstood…most importantly, we risk not being accepted. It is an ancient and primal need of humankind to be accepted.” (Jackie Morfesis) “Am

“…the Lord Jesus Christ warns us quite clearly that mercy will be the fundamental criterion when we are judged at the Last Judgment, when it will be asked whether we fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, and visited the sick and the imprisoned (cf. Matt. 25:31–46)…This is not a sprint. It is a long race. A long run. And the race does not end until we meet the Lord on the Final Judgment. It is then that we will be held accountable for everything we have said, thought, don

“The further you move away from God, the closer you get to the devil. The Holy Fathers speak about this very clearly. There’s mathematical precision in this: When you depart from God, you lose the sense of the Divine presence, Divine consolation, Divine energy, and you find yourself as if exposed and vulnerable to the devil’s influence.” (Metropolitan Athanasios) “Sin is, in fact, an energy that has not been rightly directed and that requires redirection. For example, a perso

“God calls us to faithfulness in whatever situation He places us…Faithfulness to God is never forgotten by the Lord, even if it appears to go unnoticed (Heb 6:10). The true reward is glorification, not in this life, but in the Kingdom to come (Heb 11:39, 40).” (Orthodox Study Bible, Esther 2:20, 23) “People often perceive faith as confidence in the existence of God. But this is the first step of faith, from which you can gradually rise to something higher. For example, faith

“…this is how the path of religious life begins. As the holy fathers write, the soul passes through three stages: slave, hireling, and son. The stage of the slave—a person does not yet love God, but fears hell. He keeps the commandments because he has been horrified by the description of fiery gehenna. This is faith expressing the religious instinct of self-preservation. The stage of the hireling—a person already hopes for reward. He fasts in order to receive the Kingdom of H

“Our Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples that He had to leave them in order to send them the Holy Spirit. Ten days after His ascension to the heavens, The Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples, we are told “like tongues of fire.” All of the sudden, they were clothed with the Holy Spirit. They each became individually, temples of the Holy Spirit and they became more. I’m going to tell you something that might sound strange or controversial. They became Christs. Don’t misun

“It is certainly necessary, in pastoral care, to consider the concrete political, economic, and social environments in which the faithful live. In so doing, the aim is, however, not to enable them to conform to the modern way of life, but to help them succeed, in their particular circumstances, in continuing to lead a Christian way of life, which is accomplished often not in conformity and accommodation, but in a form of spiritual resistance. This has been a clear principle f