"Advent is not about a sentimental waiting for the Baby Jesus," Richard Rohr asserts. Advent is a time to focus our expectations and anticipation on "the adult Christ, the Cosmic Christ," who challenges us to empty ourselves, to lose ourselves, to surrender. Drawing on selections from his best-selling inspirational lecture on CD, Preparing for Christmas With Richard Rohr, this booklet provides daily reflections and prayers for the Advent season, along with each day's Scripture readings and questions for reflection. A wonderful resource for personal prayer, this attractive, 80-page, pocket-sized booklet is a perfect companion for your Advent preparation.
Rohr's meditations on the daily readings of Lent are not for the sake of mere information, or even for academia (although the author hopes it will satisfy both), but for the sake of our transformation into our original "image and likeness," which is the very image of God. What always and finally matters for all of us is encounter! Father Rohr begins each meditation with a single title or phrase that sums up the point. Then he offers the meditation followed by key passages from the readings. He ends each meditation with a Starter Prayer that invites you to self-disclosure and to enter the wondrous divine dialogue with clarity, insight—and holy desire! "There are two moments that matter. One is when you know that your one and only life is absolutely valuable and alive. The other is when you know your life, as presently lived, is entirely pointless and empty. You need both of them to keep you going in the right direction. Lent is about both. The first such moment gives you energy and joy by connecting you with your ultimate Source and Ground. The second gives you limits and boundaries, and a proper humility, so you keep seeking the Source and Ground and not just your small self."—From the Introduction
This perennial book features daily meditations, each written by Rohr and adapted or excerpted from his many written and recorded works. The meditations are arranged around seven themes: Methodology: Scripture as validated by experience, and experience as validated by tradition, are good scales for one's spiritual worldview Foundation: If God is Trinity and Jesus is the face of God, then it is a benevolent universe. God is not someone to be afraid of, but is the Ground of Being and on our side. Frame: There is only one Reality. Any distinction between natural and supernatural, sacred and profane is a bogus one. Ecumenical: Everything belongs and no one needs to be scapegoated or excluded. Evil and illusion only need to be named and exposed truthfully, and they die in exposure to the light. Transformation: The separate self is the problem, whereas most religion and most people make the "shadow self" the problem. This leads to denial, pretending, and projecting instead of real transformation into the Divine. Process: The path of descent is the path of transformation. Darkness, failure, relapse, death, and woundedness are our primary teachers, rather than ideas or doctrines. Goal: Reality is paradoxical and complementary. Non-dual thinking is the highest level of consciousness. Divine union, not private perfection, is the goal of all religion. Yes, and...is an excellent daily prayer resource for fans of Richard Rohr's work, and those who are looking for an alternate way to live out their faith--a way centered in the open-minded search for spiritual relevance of a transforming nature.
Using Zen parables and personal experiences, Rohr leads readers beyond the techniques of prayer to a place where they can receive the gift of contemplation--and know that everything belongs.
Christians know that St. John the Baptist prepares the way of the Lord. Which other saints can accompany us during the four weeks of waiting for the birth of Jesus? Through insightful reflections, Franciscan Father Greg Friedman, a pastor and radio personality, connects us to the lives of saints and holy ones suggested by the Scriptural readings of Advent. Father Greg draws on his love for the saints to offer us daily inspiration during this season of preparation. For each day of Advent until Christmas Day, we find a brief reflection on an Advent lectionary reading, with a saintly connection, a suggested action for the day, and a prayer to help us slow down and savor this season of waiting and hope. This perennial Advent resource will become part of your preparation for Christmas year after year.
Dissolve the distractions of ego to find our authentic selves in God In his bestselling book Falling Upward, Richard Rohr talked about ego (or the False Self) and how it gets in the way of spiritual maturity. But if there's a False Self, is there also a True Self? What is it? How is it found? Why does it matter? And what does it have to do with the spiritual journey? This book likens True Self to a diamond, buried deep within us, formed under the intense pressure of our lives, that must be searched for, uncovered, separated from all the debris of ego that surrounds it. In a sense True Self must, like Jesus, be resurrected, and that process is not resuscitation but transformation. Shows how to navigate spiritually difficult terrain with clear vision and tools to uncover our True Selves Written by Father Richard Rohr, the bestselling author of Falling Upward Examines the fundamental issues of who we are and helps us on our path of spiritual maturity Immortal Diamond (whose title is taken from a line in a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem) explores the deepest questions of identity, spirituality, and meaning in Richard Rohr's inimitable style.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From one of the world’s most influential spiritual thinkers, a long-awaited book exploring what it means that Jesus was called “Christ,” and how this forgotten truth can restore hope and meaning to our lives. “Anyone who strives to put their faith into action will find encouragement and inspiration in the pages of this book.”—Melinda Gates In his decades as a globally recognized teacher, Richard Rohr has helped millions realize what is at stake in matters of faith and spirituality. Yet Rohr has never written on the most perennially talked about topic in Christianity: Jesus. Most know who Jesus was, but who was Christ? Is the word simply Jesus’s last name? Too often, Rohr writes, our understandings have been limited by culture, religious debate, and the human tendency to put ourselves at the center. Drawing on scripture, history, and spiritual practice, Rohr articulates a transformative view of Jesus Christ as a portrait of God’s constant, unfolding work in the world. “God loves things by becoming them,” he writes, and Jesus’s life was meant to declare that humanity has never been separate from God—except by its own negative choice. When we recover this fundamental truth, faith becomes less about proving Jesus was God, and more about learning to recognize the Creator’s presence all around us, and in everyone we meet. Thought-provoking, practical, and full of deep hope and vision, The Universal Christ is a landmark book from one of our most beloved spiritual writers, and an invitation to contemplate how God liberates and loves all that is.
This collection of 408 meditations by America's foremost retreat master and preacher follows the Church's liturgical cycle, striking the spirit of each season.
Reflections for each day of Advent and the Christmas season begin with a scriptural quotation and continue with a thought from the writings of Thomas Merton on a timely theme: the Incarnation, anticipation, angels, and many more. An appendix includes a suggested plan for using each days meditation as part of a morning or evening prayer. Paperback
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