• Beautiful Stoics

  There’s a rich literature being written today by some highly intelligent, sensitive men and women who might best be described as agnostic stoics. Unlike some of their atheistic counterparts whose

  https://ronrolheiser.com/beautiful-stoics/

• The Power of a Compliment

  Thomas Aquinas once suggested that it’s a sin to not give a compliment to someone when it’s deserved because by withholding our praise we’re depriving that person of the food

  https://ronrolheiser.com/the-power-of-a-compliment/

• Why I Believe in God

  Some of my favorite authors are agnostics, men and women who face life honestly and courageously without faith in a personal God.  They’re stoics mostly, persons who have made peace

  https://ronrolheiser.com/why-i-believe-in-god/

• Standing on New Borders

  A particularly powerful Gospel story recounts Jesus meeting with a Syro-Phoenician woman. Central to that story is where their encounter takes place. It takes place on the borders of Samaria.

  https://ronrolheiser.com/standing-on-new-borders/

• To the Friends I’ve Known

  Recently, reading Commonweal magazine, I was struck by this line by Jerry Ryan, a Little Brother of Jesus: “I have lost contact with so many people who meant a lot

  https://ronrolheiser.com/to-the-friends-ive-known/

• A Slur that Cuts Deep

  He’s a loser! You’re a loser!  Among all the hurtful slurs we mindlessly utter this particular one is perhaps the most hurtful and damaging. It needs to be forbidden in

  https://ronrolheiser.com/a-slur-that-cuts-deep/

• Consecrated Celibacy – An Apologia

  Huston Smith, the renowned commentator on world religions, submits that you should not judge a religion by its worst expressions, but by its best, its saints. That’s also true in

  https://ronrolheiser.com/consecrated-celibacy-an-apologia/

• Real Miracles

  Ralph Waldo Emerson calls the stars in the night sky “envoys of beauty, lighting the universe with their admonishing smile” and submits that if they appeared for a single night

  https://ronrolheiser.com/real-miracles/

• The Mary of Scripture and the Mary of Devotions

  There’s an axiom that says: Roman Catholics tend to adore Mary while Protestants and Evangelicals tend to ignore Mary. Neither is ideal. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, has, in effect,

  https://ronrolheiser.com/the-mary-of-scripture-and-the-mary-of-devotions/

• Mourning

  Our culture doesn’t give us easy permission to mourn. Its underlying ethos is that we move on quickly from loss and hurt, keep our griefs quiet, remain strong always, and

  https://ronrolheiser.com/mourning/