SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“Freedom is a paradox. It is an utterly inherent part of our existence – a critical part of our salvation – and yet threatening in its power. Freedom of the self can seem a threat to every kind of order (religious, political, social, etc.). Nevertheless, we are told in Scripture that “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (freedom)” (2 Corinthians 3:17). St. Paul will also warn in his letter to the Galatians (5:13) that our liberty should not be used as an excuse

“Fasting needn’t be limited to abstinence from food alone, because true fasting is departure from evil deeds. Forgive your neighbor any insult, abstain from causing your neighbor offence, abstain from irritation, from senseless sorrows, from fear, wrath, and so on. ‘True fasting is alienation from evil, temperance of the tongue, setting aside of wrath, casting out of lust, idle talk, lies, and oath-breaking’…This is a true and pleasing fast for the Lord. Departing from these

“You can know life only through life itself. In other words, the practical application of the Scriptures builds up our relationship with God. We learn from the Bible about Christian life and find the basis for deep faith, because, So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17).” (Priest Anthony Rusakevich) “St. John of Damascus’s remark: Let us draw from the fountain of this garden [the Scriptures] perennial and purest waters springing into life

“God is an obvious reality, but man is a paradoxical being—God’s beloved creation, fallen away from real life and caught in some fiction,...

“To be made in the image of God is a sign of highest dignity; so high, in fact, that outside of Christ no human being can even be said to...

“The first to enter heaven was a thief. And the first to enter hell was an apostle of Christ. And how all this happened is a great lesson...

“In Christ’s teaching, suffering is not abolished – it is communed. The Bread we eat is a communion in the broken Body of Christ. The Cup...

“Our Christian faith requires conviction. One of the reasons that we celebrate and often remember the martyrs, those who die for their...

“Christianity is seen as a cohesive way of life that encompasses the whole of a person.” (Fr. Stephen De Young) “Christianity does not...

“As we tend to center our world (and ourselves) in the question of our choices, we are constantly tempted to justify those we feel were...