Tag Archives: Richard Rohr

One good humiliation a day

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Franciscan writer Richard Rohr says, in Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, that for years he’s prayed for “one good humiliation a day.” He continues, “[A]nd then I must watch my reaction to it.” Rohr isn’t speaking of some masochistic desire for insult or injury, no 50 shades of gray implications here, but rather of a necessary exercise in the practice of an authentic life. The context is being real about oneself instead of trapped in the delusions of “any idealized role or self-image.” The word “humiliation” is built from the word “humble” whose root meaning is close to the ground, of the humus or earth. Human, that is. True to what one is. Continue reading →

In the beginning

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Water & Wilderness (Week 1): Mark 1:9-11

In the beginning… God’s spirit hovered over the water (Genesis 1:1). Now, too, at the beginning of Jesus’ journey,  the Spirit hovers over the water  and descends. No sooner had he come up out of the water than he saw…the Spirit, like a dove… There is a voice: You are my Son, the Beloved; my favor rests on you.

How significant, to begin with blessing, with affirmation. Given before the wilderness, before the work. Not earned for doing well, in other words, but because of love and relationship. It’s foundational, pre-everything. — I enter the story to see, feel, and hear. How personal it is, this blessing, not offered in a secondhand way by saying to those roundabout, he is…, but letting them hear, you are… Continue reading →