Yes, and...: Daily Meditations - Softcover

Rohr O.F.M., Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1632532921 ISBN 13: 9781632532923

Publisher: Franciscan Media, 2019

Synopsis

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:

1. Methodology: Scripture as validated by experience, and experience as validated by tradition, are good scales for one’s spiritual worldview
2. 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.
3. Frame: There is only one Reality. Any distinction between natural and supernatural, sacred and profane is a bogus one.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.

About this title

About the Author

Fr. Richard Rohr is a globally recognized ecumenical teacher bearing witness to the universal awakening within Christian mysticism and the Perennial Tradition. He is a Franciscan priest of the New Mexico Province and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fr. Richard's teaching is grounded in the Franciscan alternative orthodoxy—practices of contemplation and lived kenosis (self-emptying), expressing itself in radical compassion, particularly for the socially marginalized. Fr. Richard is the author of numerous books, including Everything Belongs, Adam’s Return, The Naked Now, Breathing Under Water, Falling Upward, Immortal Diamond, and Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi. Fr. Richard is academic Dean of the Living School for Action and Contemplation. Drawing upon Christianity's place within the Perennial Tradition, the mission of the Living School is to produce compassionate and powerfully learned individuals who will work for positive change in the world based on awareness of our common union with God and all beings. Visit cac.org for more information.

Review

"Rohr's pungent insights are a bitter and soothing balm for our wounded souls and world. That they seem to strange, shocking and counterintuitive only proves how poorly we have understood our own tradition, and grievously deformed it."
— National Catholic Reporter

In this magisterial collection of daily spiritual readings, Rohr gives us a treasure-trove of insights into the contemporary religious scene in all its dramatic variety....In Rohr's understanding of things, unlearning plays a huge role in the second half of life when we are squaring off against debilitation and death. "Divine union, not private perfection is the goal of all religion," writes Rohr in "Goal." Here he delivers a set of snappy essays on wonderment, starting with yes, smiling as a form of salvation, unitive consciousness, the mystery of presence, and the freedom of not knowing. This sterling collection of meditations is part of Rohr's legacy work in seven parts. By the time you finish reading it, you will have a deep sense of communion with this priest and his visionary Christianity!
—Frederic and Mary Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

What Rohr has given us...is a collection of 366 meditations—one for every day of the year—to help us figure out what it means to wrestle with our Christian faith.... Rohr is convincing when he argues that "Jesus consistently ignored or even denied exclusionary, punitive and triumphalist texts in His own Jewish Bible in favour of passages that emphasized inclusion, mercy and honesty."
In his view, it is past time to do away with literal readings of the Bible, and it is time to read our Bibles within the contexts of both our own lives and our own political time. It is time to end theological eliteness and recognize that Jesus’ ministry, which we seek to emulate, was both humble and revolutionary. Such an approach brings us into a true liberation theology, for ourselves, our churches and our world.
—Sara Stratton, Catholic Register, Toronto

"Books of meditations can be boring and bland, but the meditations Rohr has selected for Yes, And... are exciting, soul-renewing, and deep."
—Tikkun Recommends", Tikkun magazine

Rohr has a gift to put real-life experiences into clear words and alternative viewpoints. Speaking of the “beginner’s mind,” he says people tell him, “You did not tell me anything new...you just gave me the courage to believe it”...I recommend this book to family, friends, and colleagues in search of deeper spirituality.
—John B. Lounibos, Catholic Library World

Edition details

• Publisher: Franciscan Media
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1632532921
• ISBN 13: 9781632532923
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 432