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A Wisdom Born of Pain
John Powell once wrote a remarkable little book entitled, Unconditional Love, the story of Tommy, a former student of his who died of cancer at age twenty-four. Shortly before he
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An Invitation to a Deeper Virtue
Perhaps the most misunderstood text in all of scripture is the one where Jesus says to us: “Unless your virtue goes deeper than that of the scribes and the pharisees,
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The Value of Praying a Doxology
A friend of mine likes to tease the Jesuits about their motto: “For the greater glory of God.” “God doesn’t need you to enhance his glory,” he likes to kid
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Conservatism is a Good Place to Start From
Sometimes it’s helpful to imagine you’re a strip of litmus paper and then analyze the colours you turn as you fall into the various acids of life and religion. I
https://ronrolheiser.com/conservatism-is-a-good-place-to-start-from/
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Dark Nights of the Soul
When Therese of Lisieux entered the Carmelites at age fifteen, she tried to anticipate the difficulties she would face there. She knew that many would see this as the misguided
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The Kenosis of God
Last year, in a presentation at a symposium on “Being Missionaries to our own Children”, Michael Downey posed this question: How do we speak of God inside a culture that’s
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Living with Criticism
Nobody goes through life without facing criticism, opposition, misunderstanding, suspicion, and, at some point, having to experience hatred. This is one of the great pains, perhaps the greatest, inside family,
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Coping with Complexity
Holiness and wholeness are, ultimately, the same thing. To be holy is to be whole. That shouldn’t surprise us, grace builds on nature. What’s problematic is achieving wholeness. Why? Because
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From Self-Protection to Being Food for the Life of the World
Recently I heard an interview on the radio with a bishop from a large American diocese. At one point he was asked: “As the leader of a large diocese today,
https://ronrolheiser.com/from-self-protection-to-being-food-for-the-life-of-the-world/
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The Width of Our Ecclesial Embrace
Nikos Kazantsakis once said “the bosom of God is not a ghetto, but our hearts often are.” So too, sadly, are our ecclesiologies. In church circles today, both liberal and
https://ronrolheiser.com/the-width-of-our-ecclesial-embrace/