• The Healing Embrace of the Eucharist

  There are different kinds of loneliness and different kinds of intimacy. We ache in many places. When I was a young priest, newly ordained and barely beyond the loneliness of

  https://ronrolheiser.com/the-healing-embrace-of-the-eucharist/

• Maturity – Being Cool or Being Vulnerable?

  All of us struggle to project a certain image of ourselves. No matter the effort, no matter the hidden cost, when we walk into our place of work or into

  https://ronrolheiser.com/maturity-being-cool-or-being-vulnerable/

• Carrying Our Solitude at a High Level

  In an autobiographical novel, My First Loves, Czech writer, Ivan Klima, shares how as a young man he struggled with a particular ambivalence. At one level, he wanted to be

  https://ronrolheiser.com/carrying-our-solitude-at-a-high-level/

• Our Struggle to Celebrate

  It’s hard to celebrate properly. We want to, but we don’t know how. Mostly we celebrate badly because our idea of celebration is to overdo things. We try to celebrate

  https://ronrolheiser.com/our-struggle-to-celebrate/

• Doing the Right Thing Because it is the Right Thing

  “Have you ever done something simply on principle, because it was the right thing to do, knowing that you couldn’t explain it to anyone, without there even being a good

  https://ronrolheiser.com/doing-the-right-thing-because-it-is-the-right-thing/

• What have you read lately that’s interesting?

  “What have you read lately that’s interesting?” Since readers of this column sometimes ask me this question, I want to highlight some of the more interesting novels I have read

  https://ronrolheiser.com/what-have-you-read-lately-thats-interesting/

• Reflections on a New Year’s Eve

  When I was a child, New Year’s Day was very special. Our family always had a big celebration, complete with a number of rituals. The rituals began already on New

  https://ronrolheiser.com/reflections-on-a-new-years-eve/

• The Checkered Origins of Grace

  God writes straight with crooked lines. We know that expression, though we rarely apply it to sacred history or to the birth of Jesus. We should. The Christmas story is

  https://ronrolheiser.com/the-checkered-origins-of-grace/

• The Struggle with Terrorism

  There’s an old axiom that says that the country with the best poets eventually triumphs. The strength of a people, in the end, lies not in its military power, but

  https://ronrolheiser.com/the-struggle-with-terrorism/

• Ad Usam

  Several years ago a young Benedictine monk shared this story in class. He lived in a monastery that kept a rather strict rule. Their observance of poverty and obedience required

  https://ronrolheiser.com/ad-usam/