SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“There are two kinds of fear: one initial, and the other perfect… For example, he who fulfills the will of God out of fear of punishment is still a beginner, for he does not yet do good for the sake of goodness itself, but out of fear of punishment. But he who fulfills the will of God out of love for Him, loving Him simply in order to please Him—this one knows what true good is; he has understood what it means to be with God. Such a person fears God and fulfills His will no l

“God is free and cannot be expected to behave in a predictable manner (known to us). We can expect certain things according to His promise, but even those things remain largely hidden. For example, we can trust that He is always at all times and in all things working for our salvation, our true communion with Him and healing from the ravages of our brokenness. But we are creatures who dream of being gods, though entering by a false door. Rather than being raised up and confor

“Someone begins to lose faith when his mind lacks the knowledge of God. A very common excuse, “How can I believe in God if there is so much evil in the world?” shows that the person in question knows very little or even practically nothing about the true faith. Evil appeared in people’s lives with sin, and the cause of injustice, betrayal, murder and other horrors is precisely sin. Let’s recall the First Epistle of the Apostle John the Evangelist: We know that we are of God,

“It’s critical that we understand the uniqueness of the traditional Christian message about the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is why, when the gospel message was first preached, most people found it unbelievable—it was preposterous, like nothing they’d ever heard before. And even now, it is unbelievable to most people for exactly the same reason. That God could truly become man, that there could be a resurrection from the dead, and that said resurrection should begin

“…we often lightly pronounce sentence and form an idea about someone based upon… not even the knowledge of different facts of his biography, but much more often upon hearsay, conjecture, and our own opinions supported by nothing, yet influencing us so powerfully that we consider our opinions the sole and precise truth about one or another person. But this is not at all correct—not in 99 cases out of 100, but in all 100 cases. Therefore, if we speak about a negative, disagreea

“Every human being who comes into this world is unique, and all are given the opportunity to know God.” (Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica) “We...

“Prayer is strange stuff. As a purely mental event it can be indistinguishable from the running dialog that goes on in our heads all the...

“It is very interesting that…it is only when God “empties himself” for the life of the world, that He actually takes on being. Before...

“I once confessed to an experienced priest that sinful thoughts were torturing me, and this is what he advised me: “Think of the thoughts...

“In the light of Christ, this world, this life are lost and are beyond mere ‘help,’ not because there is fear of death in them, but...