Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
From the Center for Action and Contemplation
"Summary: Week Four"
"Jesus of Nazareth"
January 21 - January 26, 2018
Jesus did not come to change the mind of God about humanity (it did not need changing)! Jesus came to change the mind of humanity about God. (Sunday)God leads people beyond the idea of a bilateral contract in which we must earn, deserve, and merit, to an experience of pure, unearned grace—an entirely unilateral “new covenant” initiated and maintained from God’s side. (Monday)
The way of Jesus was both personal and political. It was about personal transformation. And it was political, a path of [nonviolent] resistance to the domination system and advocacy of an alternative vision of life together under God. (Marcus Borg) (Tuesday)
Jesus takes on our suffering, bears it, and moves through it to resurrection. This is “the paschal mystery.” We too can follow this path, actively joining God’s loving solidarity with all suffering since the foundation of the world. (Wednesday)
The incarnation reveals that human bodies and all of creation are good and blessed and move toward divine fulfillment. (Thursday)
The price for real transformation is high. It means that we have to change our loyalties from power, success, money, ego, and control to the imitation of a Vulnerable God where servanthood, surrender, and simplicity reign. (Friday)
"Practice: Reading Scripture with the Mind of Christ"
Today I invite you into a contemplative practice with the familiar Eastern Orthodox prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner.” Let’s look closely at some of the words:
Lord: While “lord” can connote dominion and hierarchical authority (the Greek, kurios, means “master”), remember the authority with which Jesus taught was an inner authority, born of his awareness that he was God’s own child. And we have inherited this power!
Jesus Christ: Jesus is both human and divine, personal and infinite. “Jesus” was a common name (Joshua in Hebrew); “Christ” means anointed, chosen. We need both to ground us in the ordinary, suffering world and to draw us toward the “heaven” of union.
Sinner: “Sin” is simply that which keeps us from knowing and living out of our True Self. We are forgetful of our inherent belovedness. Don’t think of sin as just individual “nastiness,” which is largely shame-based thinking and in itself does not get you to a good place. Understand this in the context of mystical union rather than moralism.
Mercy: We need the “salvation” of Love to overcome our fear-based disconnection, to return us to wholeness. Abundant, never withheld, restorative grace brings us back into intimacy with self, God, and others. Pope Francis says that mercy is the highest virtue in the hierarchy of Christian truths.
Using this prayer as a focal point, say the words repeatedly until the prayer moves from your head into your heart and you connect with the Presence already praying ceaselessly within.
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner.”
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Adapted from Richard Rohr, A Spring Within Us: A Book of Daily Meditations (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2016), 226-227.
Marcus Borg, Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary (HarperSanFrancisco: 2006)
Richard Rohr, The New Great Themes of Scripture (Franciscan Media: 2003), CD
Richard Rohr, Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality (Franciscan Media: 2008)
News from the CAC
Looking ahead to Lent
Lent is intended to lead us into an always hidden future and an always greater opportunity . . . but still unknown to us. We enter with a new and open horizon, ready to both expect and work for God's ever new springtime. (Richard Rohr, God for Us)
Books for Lent—Father Richard’s classic, Wondrous Encounters, and God for Us —are available at store.cac.org.
To ensure domestic orders arrive by the beginning of Lent on February 14, we suggest completing your purchase by February 1; customers outside the United States should allow more time.
"Image and Likeness"
2018 Daily Meditations Theme
God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26)
Richard Rohr explores places in which God’s presence has often been ignored or assumed absent. God’s “image” is our inherent identity in and union with God, an eternal essence that cannot be destroyed. “Likeness” is our personal embodiment of that inner divine image that we have the freedom to develop—or not—throughout our lives. Though we differ in likeness, the imago Dei persists and shines through all created things.
Over the course of this year’s Daily Meditations, discover opportunities to incarnate love in your unique context by unveiling the Image and Likeness of God in all that you see and do.
Each week builds on previous topics, but you can join at any time! Click the video to learn more about the theme and to find meditations you may have missed.
We hope that reading these messages is a contemplative, spiritual practice for you. 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.
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Richard Rohr's Daily Meditations are made possible through the generosity of CAC's donors. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation.
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Image credit: The Taking of Christ (detail), Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1602, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.
Jesus was a person radically centered in God, empowered by that relationship, and filled with God’s passion for the world—a passion that led to his execution and vindication. (Marcus Borg [1])
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For Further Study:Marcus Borg, Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary (HarperSanFrancisco: 2006)
Richard Rohr, The New Great Themes of Scripture (Franciscan Media: 2003), CD
Richard Rohr, Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality (Franciscan Media: 2008)
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Thank you for being part of CAC’s contemplative community. You are one of 304,036 readers worldwide (as of January 2018). News from the CAC
Looking ahead to Lent
Lent is intended to lead us into an always hidden future and an always greater opportunity . . . but still unknown to us. We enter with a new and open horizon, ready to both expect and work for God's ever new springtime. (Richard Rohr, God for Us)
Books for Lent—Father Richard’s classic, Wondrous Encounters, and God for Us —are available at store.cac.org.
To ensure domestic orders arrive by the beginning of Lent on February 14, we suggest completing your purchase by February 1; customers outside the United States should allow more time.
"Image and Likeness"
2018 Daily Meditations Theme
God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26)
Richard Rohr explores places in which God’s presence has often been ignored or assumed absent. God’s “image” is our inherent identity in and union with God, an eternal essence that cannot be destroyed. “Likeness” is our personal embodiment of that inner divine image that we have the freedom to develop—or not—throughout our lives. Though we differ in likeness, the imago Dei persists and shines through all created things.
Over the course of this year’s Daily Meditations, discover opportunities to incarnate love in your unique context by unveiling the Image and Likeness of God in all that you see and do.
Each week builds on previous topics, but you can join at any time! Click the video to learn more about the theme and to find meditations you may have missed.
Richard Rohr's Daily Meditations are made possible through the generosity of CAC's donors. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation.
If you would like to change how often you receive emails from CAC, click here. If you would like to change your email address, click here. Visit our Email Subscription FAQ page for more information.
Image credit: The Taking of Christ (detail), Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1602, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.
Jesus was a person radically centered in God, empowered by that relationship, and filled with God’s passion for the world—a passion that led to his execution and vindication. (Marcus Borg [1])
© 2018 Center for Action and Contemplation
Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
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