Sacred Fire

March 24, 2014
Rolheiser (The Holy Longing), a Catholic priest, brings psychological and spiritual depth to his newest, an examination of the stages of spiritual development and maturation. He presents development as stages in discipleship: the essential stage of getting life together, the generative stage of giving life away, and the radical end point: moving off life's stage in death. It's a grand scheme, and the author is persuasive because insightful. A lot of life is boring and routine, and dark nights of the soul can seem long and quite dark. But spiritual patience and courage will come through prayer, and Rolheiser demonstrates a nuanced understanding of prayer as faithful focus upon God: "We show our fidelity to God not in our feelings but in our commitments," he writes. This is a long-haul spirituality for older readers, an audience of considerable size. Rolheiser concludes briefly on a subject he promises to expand on in his next book: the radical discipleship of deathâletting go and dying well. That is an inevitable next act.