I rarely go to church, but in my soul I am with God. Is this enough?translated

Reader question:

I rarely go to church, but in my soul I am with God, I try to pray every day. Is this enough?

Maria

Priest's answer:

Priest Victor NIKISHOV

God bless you!

Inner faith alone without participation in church sacraments is not enough for salvation. Christ created the Church as His Body, and it established the sacraments through which grace is given. Saint John Chrysostom says:

“The Church is not walls and a roof, but faith and life. The Church is not church walls, but church laws.”

Faith itself is impossible without communion with the Body of Christ in the Eucharist. The sacraments are visible acts of God, not merely symbolic rites.

Prayer at home is a good thing, but it does not replace participation in general prayer and communion. St. Seraphim of Sarov taught that acquiring the grace of the Holy Spirit is the goal of Christian life, and this grace is taught precisely through the sacraments of the Church. If you do not receive communion, you deprive yourself of the main source of salvation - union with Christ, and if you do not confess, then you are closing your soul from purification. “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54) - in these words...