SO GOOD QUOTES

“The Hebrew scriptures see sin as the prime alienator. 1 In their view of things, frequently when we find ourselves lonely, it is because of sin: our sin, other’s sin, or the sinful condition of the human race. Sin, since it helps destroy love and trust that can bind us together and replaces them with selfishness and distrust that help drive us apart, perhaps more than any other single force serves to alienate us from each other. Sin causes loneliness. The Hebrew scriptures see this as happening in several ways. First of all, sin alienates because it destroys our proper harmony with God. Loneliness results because we are now not in proper relationship with what is fully real. Moreover, this state will inevitably destroy the proper harmony and relationships we have with each other, as well, for when we are out of tune with God, we are by that same fact out of tune with others. No one can break the first three commandments and hope to keep the other seven. In this sense, sin of all kinds makes for loneliness.”

—Ronald Rolheiser, The Restless Heart: Finding Our Spiritual Home in Times of Loneliness