Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Wisdom from Fr. Richard Rohr

I recently came across this video and thought I'd share. It contains portions of the evening talk with Fr. Richard Rohr that my wife and I were able to attend last fall. Although I haven't read his latest book, I was struck by this insight, which, excusing my youthful ignorance, seems to be a profound diagnosis of our culture...

VALENTE: According to Rohr, our society has plenty of elderly people, but lacks true "elders."

ROHR: Elder is a capacity of soul that allows you to patiently understand things...It is not chronological maturity. It's how you've dealt with the dark side and how successfully you've dealt with disappointment, betrayal, abandonment, failure, and rejection.

Watch Richard Rohr on PBS. See more from Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

4 comments:

Paul T. Corrigan said...

Thanks for sharing this video. Very beautiful and meaningful. Also, I'm glad that you got to attend the talk. I was looking to catch sight of you in the audience in the video. :-)

Unknown said...

Great video clip! Thanks for sharing it with us.

living stones said...

Daniel,

Thanks so much for sharing this video. I thought this short piece was very meaningful and helpful. Rohr is a wise man of God, I think, and we can all profit from listening to him. I loved his point about stopping all ministry to teach our people how to pray. It is, of course, an overstatement, but I appreciate his emphasis on deep prayer being what helps us mature in the faith. And what a great definition of mystery, not unknowability, but rather that which is endlessly knowable. He said we never get to the point where we have it all, but it's about staying on the path. I'm encouraged to be on the journey with you and others who value investing in the contemplative dimension of our spiritual lives.

I'm delighted that you and Melissa got to hear him in person. How special! Thanks again for sharing such a rich resource.

Blessings, Anna

RC said...

Daniel, wow, I love Rohr's insight on what an elder is. And the video is excellent. Thank you so much for investing in these ways—they are a gift to us. Blessings and grace on all of you there, Rickey

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