SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“I believe that Christians make a serious mistake when we begin to speak first about God rather than first about Christ and His death on the Cross and resurrection from the dead. It is a mistake because it presumes we know something about God that is somehow “prior” to those events. We do not, or, if we think we do, we are mistaken. The death and resurrection of Christ are the alpha and the omega of God’s self-revelation to the world. Nothing in all of creation is extraneous

“The warning Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you [John 12:35] operates on at least two different levels: (1) To the Jewish people in Jerusalem to whom Jesus spoke, the warning was a reminder that there was only a little time left for them to accept him as their Messiah. (2) To those later individuals to whom the Fourth Gospel was written, and to every person since, the words of Jesus are also a warning: There is a finite, limited time in w

“The beautiful is identical with The Good, for all things seek the beautiful and the good at every opportunity, and there is no being that does not participate in them. They extend to all that is, being whatever is truly admirable, sought for, desired, pleasing, chosen and loved. Observe how the divine force of love –that power of Eros pre-existing in the good—has given birth to the same blessed force within us, through which we long for the beautiful and the good in accordan

“We have within us deeply rooted weaknesses, passions, and defects. This cannot all be cut out with one sharp motion, but patience, persistence, care and attention. The path leading to perfection is long. Pray to God so that He will strengthen you. Patiently accept your falls and, having stood up, immediately run to God, not remaining in that place where you have fallen. Do not despair if you keep falling into your old sins. Many of them are strong because they have received

“The story of ‘the Fall’ is the story of human self-will: we like to do what we want regardless of how our relationships or others are affected by what we do…Adam and Eve felt God was denying them something good by forbidding them to eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They are given all of Paradise (the perfect world!) and yet they imagine God is withholding something more from them and they want what they imagine they have been denied rather than

“Repentance in deep mourning and joined with confession is what unveils the eyes of the soul to see the great things of God.” (Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos) “ ‘The soul is a mirror.’ The proper function of the soul is to reflect the life of God (we are His image). It is striking that the emptiness and disgust of the [prodigal] son is met with the welcome of the father (who only sees him as son). He is welcomed, clothed, honored, and feted. He was created for this. It is th

“Double-mindedness (James 1:8) speaks of one who has two loyalties, love of the world competing with love for God (see Mt 6:24). Such unstable life deadens our conscience and turns us aside from the truth.” (Orthodox Study Bible, James 1:6-8) “Children, at their best, have an amazing ability to wonder. The world is fresh and new for them, with many things being seen and encountered for the very first time. They sometimes come to wrong conclusions, but even their wrong conclus

“Virtue may be defined as the conscious union of human weakness with divine strength…if we rely on our own capability as if our natural powers are our strength, we confuse our human works with virtue. On the other hand, if we “do not make an effort” to receive divine help and “transcend human weakness” with the power of God, we will fall short of virtue…the development of virtue depends on…the cooperation between God and the human person.” (St. Maximus the Confessor, Fr. Basi

“…the people of God did not fight with the hand or weapons so much as with the voice and tongue, that is, they poured forth prayer to God, and thus overcame their adversaries. Therefore, you, too, if you want to be victorious, listen to the apostle [Paul] say, “Be assiduous in prayer, being wakeful.” This is the most glorious fight of the Christian, not to presume upon his own strength but always to implore the assistance of God.” (St. Caesarius of Arles) “ ‘But someone will

“When we separate faith from everything else, we make it into belief. It becomes the assent to the truth of something that cannot be proven by empirical evidence. The Book of James addresses this mistaken thought directly when it says, “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only” (OSB James 2:24)… Paul speaks of “faith active” in love. This poignant phrase indicates that Paul would agree with James, who wrote against the idea of “faith alone.” He ins