"Where do we go once some of the basic questions in our lives have been answered, or at least brought to enough peace that our focus can shift away from ourselves to others? Where do we go once the basic questions in our lives are no longer the restless questions of youthful insecurity and loneliness? Who am I? Who loves me? How will my life turn out? Where do we go once the basic question in life becomes: How can I give my life away more purely, and more meaningfully? How do I live beyond my own heartaches, headaches, and obsessions so as to help make other peoples' lives more meaningful? The intent of this book is to try to address exactly those questions: How can we live less self- centered, more mature lives? What constitutes deep maturity and how do we reach that place? And, not unimportantly, what constitutes a more adult, Christian discipleship? What constitutes a truly mature following of Jesus?"Īs the poet Rainer Maria Rilke suggests, "Live the questions now." In Sacred Fire, Rolheiser's deeply affecting prose urges us on in pursuit of the most holy of all passions-a deep and lasting intimacy with God. "What lies beyond the essentials, the basics?" Rolheiser writes. But, as Rolheiser explains, when we embrace the struggle and yearning to know God we can experience too a profound re-understanding to our daily lives. Here, we experience the full gamut of human life, pleasure and fervor, disillusionment and boredom. In this new book, Rolheiser takes us on a journey through the dark night of the senses and of the spirit. With his trademark acuity, wit, and thoughtfulness, Rolheiser shows how identifying and embracing discipleship will lead to new heights of spiritual awareness and maturity. 9, page 43).When one reaches the highest degree of human maturity, one has only one question left: How can I be helpful? -TERESA OF AVILA Beloved author Ronald Rolheiser continues his search for an accessible and penetrating Christian spirituality in this highly anticipated follow-up to the contemporary classic, The Holy Longing. This article appeared in the September 2014 issue of U.S. Rolheiser promises to complete the trilogy with a focus on the last great act of a Christian’s life: “making our dying our last great gift to our loved ones.” Christian readers “of a certain age” eagerly await its arrival and hope he will not tarry in delivering it. Rolheiser quotes Thomas Merton, who refers to this fault as that of being “carried away by conflicting concerns” and “committing oneself to too many projects.” As an insight for Catholics confused about the value of praying for the dead, he proposes a new set of revised reasons in favor of this hallowed practice. Under adult morality, he offers advanced insights into the old seven “deadly sins,” which he calls the seven “subtle sins” of mature Christians. Charting a new course through Jesus’ parables-especially those thought to have already been mined for every spiritual nugget-he floods familiar stories with complacency-shattering light. Chapter by chapter, he invites those who think they have achieved mature faith to go deeper. In essence, he suggests that the primary work of believers who have succeeded-more or less-in getting their lives in order is to learn how to “give their lives away.”Īmong Rolheiser’s gifts to middle-stage Christians is his ability to illumine the gospels with new insights. He now offers Sacred Fire: A Vision for a Deeper Human and Christian Maturity as a graduate-level course in human and Christian discipleship. Rolheiser sees The Holy Longing as Spirituality 101 to “help us get our lives together.” For a broad audience of spiritual seekers across the Christian spectrum, it did just that. Beginning with The Holy Longing: A Search for a Christian Spirituality (Image), he emerged as one of the most respected American Catholic guides to adult Christian faith. Ronald Rolheiser returns with the second volume of a promised trilogy.
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