Tag: Pascha

“In any circumstances”: Being Content in a Mysterious Time

· Nicole M. Roccas 1 Leave a Comment on %s
*Written during the COVID-19 pandemic.* Christ is risen! A passage of Scripture that has often come to mind the past week or so is St. Paul’s exhortation on contentment. Thanking the Philippians for remembering his needs–perhaps through sending supplies or monetary contributions–St. Paul points out that even in times when his earthly needs haven’t been met, he knows…

This Pascha IS Okay

· Nicole M. Roccas 6 Leave a Comment on %s
Christ is risen! **Written on Holy Saturday 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, intended as a friendly follow-up to Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick’s recent blog post This Holy Week is Not Okay. *** In any other year, I would most likely not be writing a blog post on Holy Saturday morning. I would be either sleeping…

Time Outside Time (Guest Post)

· Nicole M. Roccas
Today I’m happy to share some thoughts from Charlotte Riggle! She’s written a wonderful guest post that gives a kind of time-oriented behind-the-scenes glimpse into her children’s book, Catherine’s Pascha. With Pascha just around the corner, I’m delighted to welcome her to the Time Eternal blog.     * * * Writing a picture book requires a huge leap…

10 Ways the Funeral of a Priest is Different from a Layperson’s

· Nicole M. Roccas 13 Leave a Comment on %s
On Friday, I attended the funeral of a much-loved priest in our diocese. It’s not the first such funeral I’ve had the blessing of attending. I say “blessing” because, whatever the tragic circumstances surrounding a priest’s death may be, I find the funeral service for a clergy member–along with the preparations for it–to be among the most moving,…

A Basket-less Resurrection: 4 Ways Pascha is Different for Greeks than other Orthodox

· Nicole M. Roccas 6 Leave a Comment on %s
Christ is risen! Xristos Anesti! Christus ist auferstanden! A week or two before Holy Week, I mentioned to a friend that our Greek Orthodox parish (like most Greek parishes) doesn’t do blessed baskets at Pascha (1). I don’t think my priest would know what to do if–in the chaos of pre-Pascha preparations–I suddenly appeared on the solea with a basket full…

Holy Week: the best of times, the strangest of times

· Nicole M. Roccas
Dang it. I’d done it again. I vowed not to, I told myself I’d be smarter this year. But alas… it seems I’m doomed every Holy Monday evening to the same fate. Namely, the fate of slipping quietly into Church and opening my prayer book (smartphone app) to the Bridegroom Matins of Holy Monday. And not realizing until…

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

· Nicole M. Roccas 1 Leave a Comment on %s
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…