Great Lent Archives - Time Eternal

Got askesis envy? Advice from a desert monk

March 14, 2019March 14, 2019 · Nicole M. Roccas 1

In the Orthodox Church, Great Lent is enriched by the memory of the most celebrated monastics of Christian memory–St. Andrew of Crete (who got his start as a hierarch and hymnographer in a monastery near Jerusalem), St. John of the Ladder, and St. Mary of Egypt, to name a few. Surrounded by these virtuous souls, it’s easy…

When Your Lent Was Not Instagram-Worthy

March 31, 2018March 31, 2018 · Nicole M. Roccas 12

12:30PM on Lazarus Saturday. I’m still in bed, my limbs weighed down by the ache of sleeping in too late. Barely awake, I pull off my eye mask and instinctively reach for my phone to see if I’ve missed any important messages. Just one text from my husband, 57 minutes ago: “Things I never thought I’d say to…

“Desiring the Kingdom” in Lent: A Book Review

March 22, 2018March 22, 2018 · Nicole M. Roccas 3

If you’ve listened to the most recent episode of Time Eternal, you’ll know I’ve been reading James K. A. Smith’s Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation during Lent. Here, I’m posting a full review of the book. To summarize, I found this a really worthwhile read. Smith comes from the Reformed tradition, but so many of his insights…

2 Free Lenten Resources for #aTimelyLent2018

February 16, 2018February 16, 2018 · Nicole M. Roccas

Great Lent is just around the corner! Are you looking for ways to expand your lenten askesis? Or are you dreading the great fast and trying to find a path back to the basics of your life and faith? I have two free resources to help you out, and both of them focus on all the things you’ve…

Looking Back on Lent: A Lesson at the Gym

April 7, 2017June 21, 2017 · Nicole M. Roccas 1

The last few days of Lent are winding down, and it’s usually at this time I find myself looking back on the last 40-odd days and wondering where it all went. Often, regret tinges my memory of Great Lent–I never feel like I quite “Lented” enough. This year, though, I find myself with a different–I daresay even uplifting–perspective.…

What Writing and Working are Teaching Me This Lent

March 24, 2017June 21, 2017 · Nicole M. Roccas 1

O Lord, grant me to greet the coming day in peace. Help me in all things to rely upon Your holy will. In every hour of the day reveal Your will to me. Bless my dealings with all who surround me. Teach me to treat all that comes to me throughout the day with peace of soul, and…

(Re)Reading Rilke on the Way to Lent

February 21, 2017June 21, 2017 · Nicole M. Roccas 4

I am praying again, Awesome One. . . . It’s here in all the pieces of my shame that now I find myself again. I yearn to belong to something, to be contained in an all-embracing mind that sees me as a single thing. Rainer Maria Rilke Last week, I realized something startling: it seems no one…

The Holy Friday of Christmas? What we remember when Christmas falls on a Sunday

December 23, 2016December 22, 2016 · Nicole M. Roccas 1

Christmas being on a Sunday this year is kind of messing with my sense of time–I keep thinking it’s holy week. On this last day of the work week (perhaps last working day of 2016), time feels quiet, still and contemplative, like things are winding down. Like we are in the sad but peaceful eye of a storm…