SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“The gospel is the report of the victory of God achieved by Jesus Christ over the hostile spiritual powers arrayed against humanity…The true gospel, the story of Christ’s victory, begins with Yahweh, God the Son, descending from the glory He shared with the Father eternally (John 17:5) to be made man. The incarnate Son of God then waged war against the hostile spiritual powers oppressing humanity, against the power of sin, and against death itself. Arising victorious, He asce

“Christ has come according to the power given Him from the Almighty Father, and has summoned people to friendship, blessing, repentance, and dwelling together…we should regard our fellow Christians—as friends, since each of us has become a friend of Christ.  It is perhaps significant that the same Saint John who reported that Christ called the disciples His friends in John 15:15 also used the term to describe Christians [3 John 14]—it is because Christ has made us His friends

“ASCETICISM (from Gr. askesis, “athlete”) A spiritual struggle—the crucifixion of the desires of the flesh––through a life of prayer, fasting, and self-denial. Through asceticism the Christian fights temptation to sin and thereby grows in spiritual strength…asceticism is not only for monasteries, but also for the world…Regular reading, study, and reflection on God’s Word in the Bible is an essential part of Christian ascetic life.” (Orthodox Study Bible, St. Porphyrios the K

“We do not err because the truth is difficult to see. It is visible at a glance. We err because it is more comfortable [to avoid it].” (Alexander Solzhenitsyn) “Among the weakest things in the world of social relations is the truth. That might seem to be an odd statement. However, the weakness of the truth is the limitations placed upon it by its very nature. It cannot say just anything, nor can it ever pretend to be something that it is not. Those restrictions are not shared

“Love—The more one reads 1 Corinthians 13, the more one has to face the fact that we don’t naturally have that kind of love in us. The only way to get it is to get it from God.” (Foundation Study Bible, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13) “Truly profound, sincere, and unified Christian religiosity will not be reborn so easily or quickly only because of confusion or fear. It will only be reborn from sincere sorrow at being estranged from God's bosom, only through love that is renewed throu