SACRAMENTAL LIVING

“It is hard not to admire someone with self-control. It’s a virtue that emboldens the brave to face any foe and often prevail…self-control can be frustratingly elusive…For the impulsive, the self in self-control is the problem. It is a foundation made of sand that will inevitably lead to the collapse of all we call home. There is, however, another solution and that is to put God in control, seeking strength from Him. Saint Paul refers to self-control in his epistle to the Gal

“It is hard not to admire someone with self-control. It’s a virtue that emboldens the brave to face any foe and often prevail…self-control can be frustratingly elusive…For the impulsive, the self in self-control is the problem. It is a foundation made of sand that will inevitably lead to the collapse of all we call home. There is, however, another solution and that is to put God in control, seeking strength from Him. Saint Paul refers to self-control in his epistle to the Gal

“Life is a gift from God, given to us so that we might learn to love God and neighbor…life is a gift given by God and not a right that can be demanded by the recipient. It is a gift and will always be a gift until the day it returns to the Giver. It follows that all the features of one’s life, including physical and mental health, are also gifts. These are not rights to be expected by any man, even were he to receive them all in full measure; and, were he to be deprived of an

“When we are preoccupied, we cannot see things clearly. We misjudge people and situations. We miss out on opportunities to grow closer or to guide people closer to God. Preoccupation means that our heart is not open and our intellect is full of ‘wise’ rubbish.” (Bishop Emilianos) “God’s mercies are “new to us every morning” (OSB Lamentations 3:24). So is His call to discipleship. The Lord said, “Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (OSB Matthew 6:34). As we should not w

“…when you have new experiences, you never know what good will come out of them. You never know what you might be able to learn, how you might be able to grow. And, most importantly, you never know how your experiences will enable you to help others later on.” (Robin Phillips) “You never know where life will take you…When a day starts you never know how it’s going to end. That’s why I love that morning prayer, “Teach me to treat all that comes to me throughout the day with pe

“…when you have fear and uncertainty and you want to calculate, define, and control everything, then you’re not living in reality. You become a neurotic and cowardly person. Remember the Parable of the Talents. The man who hid his talent, who hid his charisma, hid from life—he was afraid to live. What do we do? We fear living. We’re afraid to be. We’re afraid of everything. And so, we don’t live, we don’t exist. This fear of not losing anything will not give you a peaceful li

“Struggle is inescapable, for if we are not struggling in the service of Jesus, we will be struggling in the service of sin…In Christ, by contrast, we have a relationship with the living God. He loves us, illumines us, stands with us, and forgives us as we struggle to have Him and His being formed within our hearts and souls.” (Robin Phillips, Dynamis 9/7/2018) “There is an ascetic imperative, an utter necessity to enter into the struggle that is Christ’s own struggle. We fas

“…God Himself takes on human form to reveal man’s vocation and meaning as divine. From this moment onward man is free. Nothing stands over him, for the very world is his as a gift from God to fulfill his divine destiny….Tragically, too many people do not hear this voice of Jesus as the voice of Love Incarnate calling us to repent, to sacrifice, to have sacrificial love in order to have the greatest joy, to have our deepest desires fulfilled, to find our true selves, to fulfil

“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

“There’s a lot of fear circulating these days. Fear in the secular realm, and fear, I think, in the Christian too. We are cowed by the violence and brutality of a fallen world. We’re drawing in, we’re identifying what we’re against. That’s natural. We were made for safety and joy, and the wild danger and grief of the world is not natural. And in a way it is necessary: I am not saying that evil must not be countered or truth spoken. But I think we are in danger of slipping int