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Purgatory Revisited
Several weeks ago I wrote a column in which I mentioned “purgatory”. Here’s what I said: “Purgatory is not a geography, a place distinct from heaven, but is the pain
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The Cosmic Christ
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was once called to Rome and asked to clarify certain issues in regards to his teachings. At one point, he was asked: “What are you trying
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Wrestling with God
Nikos Kazantzakis, the author of Zorba, the Greek, was an extraordinarily complex man, especially religiously. An artist, a searcher, strongly independent, yet a man with a mystical bent, he often
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Giving our Deaths to our Loved Ones
The poet, Wendell Berry, once wrote: “I almost understand, I almost recognize as a friend the great impertinence of beauty that comes even to the dying, even to the fallen,
https://ronrolheiser.com/giving-our-deaths-to-our-loved-ones/
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Praying for the Dead
Recently I received a letter from a woman asking me to explain the Christian teaching about praying for the dead. Her son had been killed in an accident and she
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In Praise of the Ordinary
Something inside us despises the ordinary. There is something in the ordinary that tells us predictable routines, domestic rhythms, and conscription to duty makes for cheap meaning. Inside us there
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The Prayer of Helplessness
In her autobiography, The Long Loneliness, Dorothy Day shares how she once prayed at a very low time in her life. Dorothy Day, as you know, wasn’t raised into the
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A Child Not Fully Grown
Have you ever watched a typical, moody adolescent interact with his or her family in public? Picture a sixteen year-old girl in a restaurant with her parents and younger siblings.
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Remaining in the Upper Room
Peter Maurin, the man who helped Dorothy Day found the CATHOLIC WORKER, used say: “When you don’t know what else to do, keep going to meetings!” Sound advice. Jesus, it
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God’s Risk…..Our Freedom
Why doesn’t God make things easier? Perhaps the most vexing faith-question of all-time is the problem of God’s silence and his seeming indifference: Why does God allow evil? Why do