SACRAMENTAL LIVING

Understanding Christianity as a Way of Life

Peace

“The peace of God is a beautiful thing; it is there for each of us if we desire it. Assuredly, just as we miss the sound of a gentle wind blowing through the trees during a busy day, so we miss and take for granted the peace of God that is all around us. It is as close to us as a breeze brushing across our face. It is as close to us as the present moment, yet we often look for it in the past and future.” (Fr. Joshua Makoul) “Foremost among these fruits is the restorative peac

Desire

“Desire is transformed into lust when we exclude God from the picture. Without God, the natural powers of our soul become corrupt…the problem with desire is not something inherent in the order of creation. Rather, the difficulty arises from our enslavement to the things of this world and to our physical being (1 Jn 2:15-16). God made the world, forming our very flesh and our eyes, yet sin turns even our natural desires into lust.” (Dynamis 2/26/2021) “…the word for “passion”

Obedience

“Often in the Scriptures the word know means not just being aware of something but having personal experience of it. Jesus did not know sin, not because He was unaware of what it is but because He never committed it himself. For although He is like us in every other way, He never sinned. Given this meaning of the word know, it is clear that anyone who says that He knows God must also keep his commandments, for the two things go together.” (Didymus the Blind) “We can be said t

Abstraction

“…Christian life encompasses: a set of beliefs and practices gleaned from experience and a profound way of life, not a system based on regimented acts coldly governed by abstract beliefs and rules propped up with mere emotionalism..” (V. Rev. Chrysostomos) “The great flaw in anti-sacramental thinking is its abstracted notion of “spiritual.” It is presumed that for something to be “spiritual,” it must have nothing to do with the material world. That “talking to Jesus” only con

Fear

“…fear can lead to aggression: “Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.” (Robert J. Wicks) “The temptation to dispense a rough “justice” against some individual or group flares up whenever we lose our focus on our common humanity and succumb to fear…Fear of men, with their finite power and unproven opinions, always rises from the wellspring of atheism. Those who fear men do not see the hand o

Laughter

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh (ὅτιγελάσετε).” (Lk 6: 21) Here is an oft forgotten, oft-neglected promise made by my Lord to those who take up their cross: laughter! I have seen this promise come true in the lives of people who lead lives of conscious, spiritual growth and struggle: Despite their unmistakable, focused earnestness, they often laugh wholeheartedly. They have the capacity to laugh good-naturedly at themselves, and at the absurdity of some of o

Emptiness

“The poor are more likely to repent and renounce this world for the sake of the kingdom, for they more easily see the emptiness of earthly things. The rich (James 2:6), on the other hand, tend to prize earthly things, desire material things, and even hurt others to gain them (see Lk 6:21–25; 1Co 1:26–28).” (Orthodox Study Bible, James 2:5-7) “To be poor in spirit is to recognize clearly that one has nothing which he has not received from God, that one is nothing except by the

Anger

“Righteous anger is a natural human emotion experienced in the face of sin. While there is anger that is certainly sinful (Mt 5:22), there is also anger that is God-given and proper to humanity (Ps 4:4). Christ's anger here [Mark 3:1-6] is in response to people professing God, yet having such hardness in their hearts that they could not rejoice in the healing of one of their brothers.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Mark 3:5) “The Fathers teach that anger in and of itself is not a si

Power

“Paul calls the Gospel, “the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes (1 Thessalonians 1:16). So, when Paul says the Gospel “came in power,” he is saying that as the Word of God it was mighty in performing its mission. It was successful in producing its effects. It created the conviction of faith that results in the salvation of its hearers. But why would the Gospel, or any Word spoken by God, have this effect? Surely, the power is not in the words themselves. Th

Anxiety

“We move through each day, trying to engage our life by the completion of tasks and tending to responsibilities. As each day passes, we tend to accumulate emotions that pile up because we are too busy to stop and process what’s going in the deep recesses of our heart. Layer upon layer of daily tasks and responsibilities cover over the deeper places within us, such as the “nous”; the seat of the heart or soul. Eventually this catches up with us. As a result of this, we might f

Ministering and Ministry

“Everyone who lives in this body knows that he must be committed to that special task or ministry to which he has given himself in this life as a participant and a laborer, and he ought not to doubt that in that everlasting age he will also be the partner of him whose servant and companion he now wishes to be, according to what the Lord says, “If anyone serves me, let him follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be.” (St. John Cassian) “To minister is to serve so

Comparisons

“We must avoid at all costs competitive comparisons of each other's deeds…To be judgmental is to point out something that is wrong in someone else’s life, making the person feel put down, excluded, and marginalized...Being judgmental is fueled by self-righteousness, the misguided inner motivation to make our own life look better by comparing it to the lives of others.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Galatians 5:13-15, David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons) “Pride gets no pleasure out of having

Independence

“The indwelling of the Holy Spirit…is God’s ultimate gift to every true Christian. The Holy Spirit is an inestimable divine endowment which we must strive to retain, submitting all that we are and all that we have to Christ as King and God…However, such an unqualified surrender runs against the grain of American values, which emphasize personal independence and “doing one’s own thing.” It runs contrary to our ego’s deep desire for self-actualization and self-expression…We oft

Cross

“When we stand before the Cross of Christ, or kneel before it and honor it, we honor as well everything that is contained within it. We honor the unbelief of atheists, the anger and bitterness of the wounded, the shame of those who dare not look at themselves. For Christ has not distanced Himself from such things. The Cross is God’s single point of ingathering, where “all things are gathered together into one in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 1:10). Unbelief is a wound of the human hear

Fear of God

“With supernatural authority, Christ our God rebukes the wind and calms the sea (Mark 4:39). He intends to awaken his disciples from their trembling and bring them to a righteous fear – a holy awe and dread of God. In this passage the Evangelist Mark uses the word delia, meaning timidity or fright, and also phobos, meaning “fear of the Lord.” The disciples’ initial fright is delia, while their Master’s control over the elements evokes phobos: “Who can this be, that even the w

Forgiveness

“If we are to be forgiven by God, He requires of us that we also forgive one another. For many of us, this is the hardest part of repentance and confession. But we say it each time we pray the Lord's Prayer, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We are not offered salvation on any other terms.” (George W. Grube) “…Matthew, 6:14 states “If you forgive others for their trespasses, our heavenly Father will also forgive yours.” This is a command

Motives/Motivations

"Is it worth it, to invest time and energy in spiritual life, improving my conscious contact with God in prayer, contemplation, fasting, liturgy, self-examination, self-giving, and/ or whatever other tools are available to me? It is perhaps easier to be motivated toward material goals, like going on a diet and jogging daily to be physically fit; or working hard at my job to make more money and attain more financial “security.”" (Sr. Dr. Vassa Larin) “God is impressed, not wit

Faith and Knowledge

“In order to become wise, we must first become fools. The most valuable knowledge of all is the knowledge of what we don’t know. The Fathers followed a path of apophatic theology (theology that cannot be spoken). It is a path towards knowing the Unknowable. However, we cannot know the Unknowable without first acknowledging that we do not know what we do not know. A simple place to begin is to recognize the passions that accompany our opinions. We not only imagine ourselves to

Solitude /Stillness /Silence

“In all four Gospels we find the Lord Jesus often leaving behind the crowds that follow Him in order to spend time by Himself. He seeks solitude to be with His Father. If the Lord, who is both man and God, needs to withdraw from the world to find intimacy with the Father, how much more do we, as fallen human beings, need to follow His example!” (Dynamis 7/21/2020) “Christ taught by example, spending whole long nights in the desert praying. He did this to teach and admonish us

Invest

“God gives us time, gifts, and other resources according to our abilities, and He expects us to invest them wisely until He returns. We are responsible to use well what God has given us. The issue is not how much we have but how well we use what we have…What people consider valuable is where their energy will be spent. Knowing God and investing in His purposes should be the treasure we seek.” (Life Application Study Bible, Matthew 25:15, Foundation Study Bible, Luke 12:34) “I

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