“If love is the soul of Christian existence, it must be at the heart of every other Christian virtue. Thus, for example, justice without love is legalism; faith without love is ideology; hope without love is self-centeredness; forgiveness without love is self-abasement; fortitude without love is recklessness; generosity without love is extravagance; care without love is mere duty; fidelity without love is servitude. Every virtue is an expression of love. No virtue is really a virtue unless it is permeated, or informed, by love.” IfsLoveHeartSoulSelfCareChristianJusticeLove IsExistenceVirtueExampleExpressionDutyMereTrue LoveIdeologyGenerosityFortitudeFidelityWithout LoveServitudeExtravaganceChristian LoveRecklessnessSelf CenterednessLegalismCenterednessReligious LoveExpressions Of LoveAbasement Author:Richard Rohr
“What healthy religion is saying is that the real life is both now and later. You have to taste the Real first of all now. The constant pattern, however, is that most Christians either move both backwards (religion as nostalgia) or into the distant future (religion as carrot on the stick) and consistently avoid where everything really happens and mattersthe present moment.” FirstsRealMatterMomentsHappensChristianMovingLife IsFaithHealthyTasteConstantSticksPatternsNostalgiaReal LifePresent MomentConsistentlyBackwardsCarrotsNow And Later Author:Richard Rohr
“Religion was made to order to "save the world," to use a phrase Christians use so much, but we really haven't been doing a good job of it for centuries. It's heartbreaking really.” WorldMadeUseChristianJobsOrderCenturyHavensPhrasesGood JobHeartbreakingSave The World Author:Richard Rohr
“It's important to note that Jesus and Christ are two different faith affirmations. Hardly any Christians have been taught that - they think "Christ" is Jesus's last name.” ThinkingHas BeensTwoImportantDifferentChristianLastsJesusNamesChristTaughtNotesAffirmationDifferent Faiths Author:Richard Rohr
“To believe in Jesus, is to believe that the historic person who lived on this earth more than 2000 years ago was the image of the invisible God. That's a huge leap of faith, but it is my leap of faith, it's the act of faith of the Christian community.” YearsBelievePersonsEarthChristianJesusCommunityHugeYears AgoInvisibleLeapHistoricLeap Of FaithChristian Community Author:Richard Rohr
“Today we need whatever methods or help we can receive to allow the Christian message to take us to a deeper level of transformation.” NeedsHelpingTodayChristianLevelsMessagesTransformationMethodDeeper Author:Richard Rohr
“Nature religions, for example, speak of summer, fall, winter, and spring. They see the downward path as the necessary prelude to any kind of upward path again. Our vocabulary is different. We Christians speak of the death and resurrection of Jesus. But unfortunately, we've projected it all onto Jesus and it didn't become a life agenda for the rest of us.” KindDifferentChristianFallJesusSpeakPathExampleSummerSpringWinterAgendasResurrectionVocabularyPreludeJesus Resurrection Author:Richard Rohr
“When you do the first half of life well, you have a good sense of yourself. Most of our mainline Christian denominations, in my opinion, don't do the first or second halves very well. We don't really give people a good container, we give them a bunch of legalisms.” PeopleGivingFirstsWellsChristianHalfOpinionBunchGood SenseDenominationsContainersLegalismChristian Denominations Author:Richard Rohr
“G.K. Chesterton, who was part of a Catholic conservatism that was kind and loving, not reactionary or hateful, said "We're all in the same boat in a stormy sea and we owe each other a terrible loyalty." I think that's profoundly true, yet it's difficult to have civil dialogue right now with other Christians, so how can we possibly talk to "all the nations"?” ThinkingKindSaidChristianNationsDifficultSeaTerribleRight NowCatholicLoyaltyDialogueBoatConservatismHatefulReactionariesStormyStormy Seas Author:Richard Rohr
“In the last years, I've been reading the Eastern fathers, the older mystical writings, a rich, deep, and truly traditional Christianity which most Western Christians know almost nothing about. It is very mystical and prayer centered Christianity, with a strong social conscience.” KnowsWritingYearsChristianLastsReadingFatherStrongSocialPrayerChristianityRichConscienceWesternTraditionalLast YearMysticalEastern Author:Richard Rohr
“Most Christian 'believers' tend to echo the cultural prejudices and worldviews of the dominant group in their country, with only a minority revealing any real transformation of attitudes or consciousness. It has been true of slavery and racism, classism and consumerism and issues of immigration and health care for the poor.” Has BeensRealCountryCareChristianPoorConsciousnessAttitudeIssuesGroupsRacismPrejudiceTransformationSlaveryBelieverImmigrationHealth CareMinoritiesEchoesConsumerismDominantRevealingWorldviewClassism Author:Richard Rohr
“It’s a gift to joyfully recognize and accept our own smallness and ordinariness. Then you are free with nothing to live up to, nothing to prove, and nothing to protect. Such freedom is my best description of Christian maturity, because once you know that your “I” is great and one with God, you can ironically be quite content with a small and ordinary “I.” No grandstanding is necessary. Any question of your own importance or dignity has already been resolved once and for all and forever.” KnowsChristianAcceptingForeverProtectProveOrdinaryDignityImportanceMaturityDescriptionSmallnessOrdinarinessGrandstanding Author:Richard Rohr
“Christians are usually sincere and well-intentioned people until you get to any real issues of ego, control power, money, pleasure, and security. Then they tend to be pretty much like everybody else. We often given a bogus version of the Gospel, some fast-food religion, without any deep transformation of the self; and the result has been the spiritual disaster of "Christian" countries that tend to be as consumer-oriented, proud, warlike, racist, class conscious, and addictive as everybody else-and often more so, I'm afraid.” PeopleWellsHas BeensRealSelfCountryChristianSpiritualGivenPleasureResultsClassIssuesSecurityProudEgoConsciousTransformationDisasterVersionsConsumersRacistSincereFast Food Author:Richard Rohr
“Christianity is a lifestyle - a way of being in the world that is simple, non-violent, shared, and loving. However, we made it into an established "religion" (and all that goes with that) and avoided the lifestyle change itself. One could be warlike, greedy, racist, selfish, and vain in most of Christian history, and still believe that Jesus is one's "personal Lord and Savior" . . . The world has no time for such silliness anymore. The suffering on Earth is too great.” WorldWayMindBelieveHeartMadeStillsSoulEarthChristianSufferingJesusSimpleChristianityLordSelfishLifestyleViolentMade ItVainRacistSaviorGreedyAvoidedNon ViolentSillinessLifestyle Change Author:Richard Rohr
“Much of the Christian religion has largely become “holding on” instead of letting go. But God, it seems to me, does the holding on (to us!), and we must learn the letting go (of everything else).” DoeSeemsChristianLetting GoHolding On Author:Richard Rohr
“Pope Francis insists that mercy is at the very top of the Christian hierarchy of great truths, and everything falls apart whenever mercy is displaced by anything else.” ChristianFallMercyPopeFalling ApartHierarchyEverything Falls Apart Author:Richard Rohr
