• The Illusion of Our Own Goodness

  One of the great tragedies in all literature is the biblical story of Saul. Saul makes Hamlet look like a Disney character. Hamlet, at least, had good reasons for the

  https://ronrolheiser.com/the-illusion-of-our-own-goodness/

• Keeping the Sabbath

  The Sufi mystic Rumi once lamented: I have lived too long where I can be reached! That was twelve hundred years ago, long before cell phones, the internet, computers, and

  https://ronrolheiser.com/keeping-the-sabbath/

• Sacred Permission to be in Agony

  We live this life “mourning and weeping in a valley of tears.” This was part of a prayer my parents prayed every day of their adult lives, as did many

  https://ronrolheiser.com/sacred-permission-to-be-in-agony/

• Praying When It Seems Useless

  Prayer is most needed just when it seems most useless. Michael J. Buckley, one of the major spiritual mentors in my life, wrote those words. What does he mean by

  https://ronrolheiser.com/praying-when-it-seems-useless/

• What Has Been Given You to Carry?

  What has been given you to carry? Where do the needs and pains of others conscript your freedom? When is freedom mitigated by circumstance? What are the situations that you

  https://ronrolheiser.com/what-has-been-given-you-to-carry/

• Giving One’s Death Away

  According to the renowned mystic John of the Cross, we have three essential struggles in life: to get our lives together, to give our lives away, and to give our

  https://ronrolheiser.com/giving-ones-death-away/

• Ordinary Time

  In its calendar, the church singles out special seasons to celebrate – Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter. But, outside of these special times, it invites us to live and celebrate

  https://ronrolheiser.com/ordinary-time-2/

• We Are Better and Worse Than We Think

  Our own complexity can be befuddling. We are better than we think and worse than we imagine, too hard and too easy on ourselves all at the same time. We

  https://ronrolheiser.com/we-are-better-and-worse-than-we-think/

• Losing a Loved One to Suicide

  I have been writing on suicide for nearly forty years. I do so because suicide is generally misunderstood, badly misunderstood. Moreover, perhaps more than any other form of death, suicide

  https://ronrolheiser.com/losing-a-loved-one-to-suicide-3/

• Reacting to Criticism

  In much of the secularized world today, we live in a climate that’s somewhat anti-Christian and anti-church (as contradictory as this may sound in a culture that still considers itself

  https://ronrolheiser.com/reacting-to-criticism/