Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation

From the Center for Action and Contemplation

Week Fourteen

Reality Initiating Us:
Part Two 

Lesson Five: Nothing Can Come Between Us 
Friday, April 10, 2020 
Good Friday 

Click here to watch a special video or listen to the audio of Richard Rohr introducing Holy Week and this week's Daily Meditation theme on "Reality Initiating Us," addressing our current global crisis as a collective initiation experience which we are all undergoing. 

It is true that you are going to die, and yet “I am certain of this, neither death nor life, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, not any height nor depth, nor any created thing can ever come between us and the love of God” (Romans 8:38-39). 

On Good Friday, we lament Jesus’ death while living in hope that death does not have the last word on our destiny. We are born with a longing, desire, and deep hope that this thing called life could somehow last forever. It is a premonition from something eternal that is already within us. Some would call it the soul. Christians would call it the indwelling presence of God. It is God within us that makes us desire and seek God.  

Yes, we are going to die, but we have already been given a kind of inner guarantee and promise right now that death is not final—and it takes the form of love. Deep in the heart and psyche, love, both human and divine, connotes something eternal and gratuitous, and it does so in a deeply mysterious and compelling way. We are seeing this now in simple acts of love in this time of crisis, such as people volunteering to make masks and deliver food, or people cheering hospital workers arriving for their shift.  Isn’t it amazing how a small act of love or gratitude can imprint a deeper knowing on our soul? 

The crucifixion of Jesus is the preeminent example of God’s love reaching out to us. It is at the same moment the worst and best thing in human history. The Franciscans, led by John Duns Scotus (1266-1308), even claimed that instead of a “necessary sacrifice,” the cross was a freely chosen revelation of Total Love on God’s part.

In so doing, they reversed the engines of almost all world religion up to that point, which assumed that we had to spill blood to get to a distant and demanding God. On the cross, the Franciscans believed, God was “spilling blood” to reach out to us! This is a sea change in consciousness. The cross, instead of being a transaction, was seen as a dramatic demonstration of God’s outpouring love, meant to utterly shock the heart and turn it back toward trust and love of the Creator.

I believe that the cross is an image for our own time, and every time: we are invited to gaze upon the image of the crucified Jesus to soften our hearts toward all suffering. Amidst the devastating spread of COVID-19, the cross beckons us to what we would call “grief work,” holding the mystery of pain, looking right at it, and learning from it. With softened hearts, God leads us to an uncanny and newfound compassion and understanding.  

Gateway to Action & Contemplation:
What word or phrase resonates with or challenges me? What sensations do I notice in my body? What is mine to do?

Prayer for Our Community:
O Great Love, thank you for living and loving in us and through us. May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all beings. Help us become a community that vulnerably shares each other’s burdens and the weight of glory. Listen to our hearts’ longings for the healing of our world. [Please add your own intentions.] . . . Knowing you are hearing us better than we are speaking, we offer these prayers in all the holy names of God, amen.

Listen to Fr. Richard read the prayer.

Story from Our Community:
It hardly matters what day it is any more, since the future is so unclear. I sit quietly, and I open my heart and mind for the unexpected. My prayers of the heart are "humility, through mystery," and "peace, through acceptance." –C. Thorman 

Share your own story with us.

Adapted from Richard Rohr, Adam’s Return: The Five Promises of Male Initiation (Crossroad Publishing Company: 2004), 163-166; and

The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope for, and Believe, (Convergent: 2019), 143-44, 152, 154; and 

Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, (St. Anthony Messenger Press: 2008), 192. 

Image Credit: Jesus’ Entry into Jerusalem (Entrada de Jesús en Jerusalén) (detail), Master of San Baudelio of Berlanga, Soria, Spain, 1125, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. 

News from the CAC

Illuman

In 2012 as Fr. Richard Rohr’s focus shifted to founding the Living School and recovering a Christian path to unitive consciousness, his male-specific work transitioned away from the CAC into Illuman, a US-based nonprofit partnering with organizations across the world committed to carrying on Fr. Richard’s work to recover traditional patterns of male initiation, affirm a path to masculine healing, reveal the true and false self, and honor the path of descent. They seek to form future generations of men who will restore these practices, serving to build a world that celebrates the beauty of all beings through the power of ritual, image, story, and council. If you’re interested in learning more about Illuman, you can sign-up for information on their next event, Soularize 2020: A Path to Masculine Healing, featuring Fr. Richard as a guest speaker.

Enneagram Mapmakers Podcast 

How can we lean into the Enneagram to experience hope and healing? Explore the interior landscapes of the ego as Christopher Heuertz, author of The Sacred Enneagram and The Enneagram of Belonging, interviews legacy Enneagram teachers such as Richard Rohr, Helen Palmer and Russ Hudson. Listen to Enneagram Mapmakers each week on our website or on your favorite podcast player. 

Turning to the Mystics Podcast 

Leaning into the lives of the mystics can be a gateway to hope, healing and oneness, especially during times of personal struggle and collective crisis. Join James Finley as he unpacks the wisdom of Thomas Merton in a way poignant and relevant to the times we live. New episodes of Turning to the Mystics release each week. 

Action & Contemplation

2020 Daily Meditations Theme

What does God ask of us? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. —Micah 6:8

Franciscan Richard Rohr founded the Center for Action and Contemplation in 1987 because he saw a deep need for the integration of both action and contemplation. If we pray but don’t act justly, our faith won’t bear fruit. And without contemplation, activists burn out and even well-intended actions can cause more harm than good. In today’s religious, environmental, and political climate our compassionate engagement is urgent and vital.

Click here to learn about contemplative prayer and other forms of meditation. For frequently asked questions—such as what versions of the Bible Father Richard recommends or how to ensure you receive every meditation—please see our email FAQ. Visit cac.org to explore other ways to connect with the Center for Action and Contemplation.

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Inspiration for this week's banner image: “Can any of you, for all of your worrying, add a single moment to your span of life?” (Luke 12:26)