The word of the day is “walk.” Today St. Paul teaches that there is a difference between having life in the Spirit and living in the Spirit. Thus, in our reading of Galatians 5:22-6:22, St. Paul writes, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit (vs. 25). The Holy Mystery of Baptism grants the baptized the “seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit” and  confers the power, illumination, and inspiration of the Spirit (Orthodox Church in America, “Baptism Service,” 2012). From then on, those who are washed and renewed in the baptismal font, indeed, “live in the Spirit” (vs. 25).  Having died to the “old life” of sin and death, they now wear the white baptismal…
The word of the day is “walk.” Today St. Paul teaches that there is a difference between having life in the Spirit and living in the Spirit.  Thus, in our reading of Galatians 5:22-6:22, St. Paul writes, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit (vs. 25). The Holy Mystery of Baptism grants the baptized the “seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit” and confers the power, illumination, and inspiration of the Spirit (Orthodox Church in America, “Baptism Service,” 2012).  From then on, those who are washed and renewed in the baptismal font, indeed, “live in the Spirit” (vs. 25).  Having died to the “old life” of sin and death, they now wear the white baptismal…
The word of the day is “new.” Is baptism just a ceremony, a way of welcoming newborns into the family? We make it an empty ritual when we do not realize that it requires a change of our very being, a rebirth to a new self. In today’s reading of Ephesians 4:17-25, Paul warns his flock about reverting to their “old man.” This was their “old self” before they rose to a “new self” in their baptism.  The apostle writes, “that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts…, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (OSB vs. 22…
The word of the day is “new.” Is baptism just a ceremony, a way of welcoming newborns into the family? We make it an empty ritual when we do not realize that it requires a change in the way we live.  In today’s reading of Ephesians 4:17-25, Paul warns the Ephesians about going back to their way of life before their baptism.  Using the metaphor of clothing, the Apostle urges them to put off the “old man” and put on the “new man.” This image combines three trains of thought. The first is that Christ became the “New Adam,” the Head of a new kind of humanity by His resurrection (1 Cor. 15:45; Romans 5:12-13). The second is that the faithful…