Time and Despondency Quotes

“For whatever reason, we humans can only understand or encounter holiness in small morsels at a time—in a Chalice, a piece of bread, a sip of wine. Any encounter with the sacred reminds us that it is enough to start somewhere, anywhere—it is enough to put one foot forward, to turn to Christ for one real moment. Wherever we begin, Real Life will seep out into other areas of our existence. Lately I have been thinking a lot about this and the implications it has for spiritual endeavors. Sacredness is not unilateral, as we perhaps assume. It is the token of relationship—between God and man, temporal and eternal, cosmic and earthly. It is, therefore, a two-way street or a stream with two sources. On the one hand is Christ, who makes objects holy by imbuing them with His presence. On the other hand is humanity—we must also participate in sanctifying things for them to become holy. In biblical understandings, the main way we do so is to set those things—times, objects, activities, or thoughts—apart from other things. The Holy Chalice, for example, is sacred not only because it has housed the presence of the Lord, but because we continue to devote it and offer it to God for that purpose. By setting the Chalice apart, we are saying to God that this great gift of the Eucharist is special to us. Over time, the Chalice comes to represent not only the Eucharist itself, but also our ongoing synergy or cooperation with Christ, our continual and appreciative “Yes” to His presence.”
― Nicole Roccas, Time and Despondency: Regaining the Present in Faith and Life

“Despondency is the impossibility to see anything good or positive; it is the reduction of everything to negativism and pessimism. [. . .] Despondency is the suicide of the soul because when man is possessed by it, he is absolutely unable to see the light and desire it.”
― Nicole Roccas, Time and Despondency: Regaining the Present in Faith and Life

“I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was watching the spiritual equivalent of a Civil War reenactment. In their fervent attempt to make historical events more realistic, these passion plays underscored the sense that the saving acts of Christ were just that: historical events.”
― Nicole Roccas, Time and Despondency: Regaining the Present in Faith and Life

“The many stories attributed to the desert fathers, for example, are thinly disguised jokes. These anecdotes manifest the playful humility through which these holy men saw themselves: Did you hear the one about holy Abbot Moses? When he ran into some pilgrims who were coming to see him, the Abbot refused to act important and said of himself, “What do you want with him? The man is a fool and heretic!”135”
― Nicole Roccas, Time and Despondency: Regaining the Present in Faith and Life

“In His rest, He refashioned or re-created creation in the shape of the Resurrection. Bearing this in mind, we could endeavor to infuse (at least some of) our own rest time with redemptive, re-creational elements. At the very least, we should remember that the purpose of rest is to reenliven ourselves—to fill and be filled with new life. I don’t know about you, but “vegging out”— relaxing as it is—does not leave me feeling more alive afterward. In fact, I usually feel more disengaged and apathetic than before. On the other hand, other activities, such as knitting or repotting my houseplants, leave me with a renewed sense of vitality, even if they require more mental and physical energy than binge-watching the latest period drama.”
― Nicole Roccas, Time and Despondency: Regaining the Present in Faith and Life

“[T]he thoughts [of the mind] bring to the soul their opposing activity whenever they catch it unoccupied with godly considerations. Therefore, do the work of manual tasks for the love of humanity and the work of the rational mind for the sake of the love of wisdom, in order that on the one hand there may be hospitality for guests and a consuming fire for laziness, and on the other hand a guide to contemplation and a winnowing of thoughts.129”
― Nicole Roccas, Time and Despondency: Regaining the Present in Faith and Life

“It is easy simply to go through the motions or find little shortcuts here and there. Think of sin as a serious medical condition and confession as one of the recommended treatments for it. How would this change the way you approach confession? You would find a doctor you can trust, first and foremost—in this case, a spiritual father. And just as you would for a medical consultation, you would prepare yourself ahead of time, compiling a record of symptoms and questions. Basically, you’d go into such an appointment as if your life depended on it. We should approach confession with a similar degree of focus and concern—it is only in exposing our illness to Christ, the physician and healer of our souls, in the presence of others that we can be made whole.”
― Nicole Roccas, Time and Despondency: Regaining the Present in Faith and Life

“St. John Chrysostom states: “Did you commit sin? Enter the Church [. . .] for here is the physician, not the judge; here one is not investigated, one receives remission of sins” [. . .] If the Church is a “physician,” then Her role is to heal the break with God and neighbor. Sin is missing the mark of being centered on God and His Will and is considered, therefore, to be an illness or infirmity. With healing we are restored to a former condition.27”
― Nicole Roccas, Time and Despondency: Regaining the Present in Faith and Life