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Affective Prayer
One of the classic definitions of prayer tells us that prayer is raising mind and heart to God. In essence, that says it all. The problem is that often we
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The Tension Between Theology and Piety
Ten years ago, I spent six months on sabbatical at Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. During that time, I lived at our Oblate parish in inner-city Oakland. It was
https://ronrolheiser.com/the-tension-between-theology-and-piety/
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In Praise of Silence
Many of us could use more silence in our lives. I say this cautiously because the place of silence within a healthy spirituality isn’t easy to specify. We have an
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Carrying Ecclesial Disprivilege
CARRYING ECCLESIAL DISPRIVILEGE January 21, 2001 Circumstance and history ask each generation to carry a certain pain and to redeem it through suffering. We, of course, are no exception. Our
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From Maintenance to Missionary
*We know what to do for someone who comes to church, but we don’t know how to get someone to come to church. *We know how to be Christian when
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The Domestic Monastery
Carlo Carretto, one of the leading spiritual writers of the past half-century, lived for more than a dozen years as a hermit in the Sahara desert. Alone, with only the
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Commandments for Making Friends
More than twenty-five hundred years ago, Moses gave us the ten commandments. The centuries since, the Enlightenment notwithstanding, haven’t given us a single reason to doubt the validity and importance
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Advent: Curing Fire by Fire
“The only hope, or else despairLies in the choice of pyre or pyre –To be redeemed from fire by fire.Who then devised the torment? Love.Love is the unfamiliar nameBehind the
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Advent: Gestating Hope into Reality
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, as even his critics admit, was a man of hope. Indeed his whole vision of things is generally criticized for being too hopeful. So, in trying
https://ronrolheiser.com/advent-gestating-hope-into-reality/
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The Joy of Children as the Prophetic Message of Christmas
Several years ago, just before Christmas, a young mother shared with me how, for her, one of the great joys of motherhood was that she got to see Christmas again
https://ronrolheiser.com/the-joy-of-children-as-the-prophetic-message-of-christmas/