Jacqueline A.

Ramos 15 October 2016

Vocation and Spirituality

Book Report: The Holy Longing

Summary:
The Holy Longing authored by Ronald Rolheiser presented a how-to guide for
those who struggle with and are still in search for a Christian spirituality. He clearly defined
spirituality as what we do with the fire within us and how to channel that fire within. He
gave the four non-negotiable essentials of the spiritual life which are a) private prayer and
private morality; b) social justice; c) mellowness of the heart and spirit; and d) community as
a constitutive element of true worship. He considered these as the four pillars that would help
maintain balance that is needed in ones spirituality. We have to maintain balance in order to
walk to the path where God calls us to our vocation. According to Rolheiser, we fulfill our
God-given vocations by being part of Gods on-going incarnation. Christ is the basis of
Christian spirituality.
God takes on flesh so that every home becomes a church, every child
becomes a Christ-child, and all food and drink become a sacrament. Gods
many faces are now everywhere, in flesh, tempered and turned down, so that
our human eyes can see him. God, in his many-faced face, has become as
accessible, and visible, as the nearest water tap. That is the why of the
incarnation.
The consequences of the Incarnation for Spirituality are for understanding how we
should pray; how we should seek reconciliation and healing; guidance; community; religious
experience; mission; and how we remain in contact with our loved ones after their death.
Spirituality is not just a law to be obeyed, but a presence to be seized, undergone and given
flesh to.
Christian spirituality has key spiritualities within namely:
a) Spirituality of Ecclesiology which is how we understand the church and why we
need it. He explained it through spiritual images like Church 1) as People as
giving each other permission to mess with each others lives; 2) as Rope
(Baptism and Conscription) that consecrates us and takes us where we would
rather not go; 3) as Sarx flawed body of Christ to be a member of the church
is to carry the mantle of both the worst isn and the finest heroism of soul, that is,
the God hung among thieves; 4) as House of Many Rooms to live and

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Vocation and Spirituality

worship beyond differences; and 5) as a Banquet table to affirm each other of

loving and being loved, that is, to help ready each other for death just like how
Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus feet.
We need to go to Church because it is not good to be alone, to take our
rightful place humbly within the family of humanity, because God calls us to be
there, to dispel our fantasies about ourself, because ten thousand saints have told
us so, to help each other carry our pathologies, to dream with others, to practice
for Heaven and for the pure joy of it because it is Heaven.
b) Spirituality of the Paschal Mystery is the mystery of Christs suffering, death and
transformation, that He died and risen to new life so as to send us a new Spirit.
There are five clear distinct moments within the paschal cycle: 1) Good Friday
(Claim your deaths) the loss of life real death; 2) Easter Sunday (Claim your
births) the reception of new life; 3) The Forty Days (Grieve to what you have
lost and adjust to the new reality) a time for readjustment to the new and for
grieving the old; 4) Ascension (Do not cling to the old, let it ascend and give
you its blessings) letting go of the old and letting it bless you, the refusal to
cling; and 5)Pentecost (Accept the spirit of the life that you are in fact living)
the reception of new spirit for the new life that one is already living.
Rolheiser mentioned that we undergo different deaths within our lives. These
are the death of our youth, the death of our wholeness, the death of our dreams,
the death of our honeymoons, and the death of a certain idea of God and the
Church.
c) Spirituality of Justice, that is, justice beyond private charity but demanding the
transformation of a system. Justice and our motivation of seeking it must be
grounded in the equality of all human persons before God and in our respect for
nature as also being Gods child. He answered the question on how to achieve
global justice through nonviolent peacemaking ultimately exemplified by Jesus
Christ Himself. Jesus way of nonviolence is by gently touching that part of the
conscience that is still soft and inviolate where truth still rings true and where
peace is still a tender longing.
d) Spirituality of Sexuality is a good, sacred energy given to us by God as an
irrepressible urge to overcome our incompleteness, to move toward unity and

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consummation with that which is beyond us. In its maturity, sexuality is about
giving oneself to community, friendship, family, service, creativity, humor,
delight and martyrdom sot that with God we can help bring life into the world.

To sustain ourselves in the spiritual life, we must be a mystic; sin bravely; gather
ritually around the Word and break the Bread; worship and serve the right god.

Reflection:
My initial feeling upon reading the first pages of the book was that it is enlightening.
He already captured both my mind and heart in how he defined spirituality giving a concrete
example through the life of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Janis Joplin. He has only
presented one theme which is Christian Spirituality and that for me is positive aspect of the
book because he remained focus around the main idea. He did achieve his goal for the book
to be a guide on the search of ones spirituality and to somehow present it in a simple
language. I also liked the way he used images in explaining theological points like
ecclesiology, paschal mystery, social justice and sexuality. Though, I do not think that the
book will find its place on coffee tables (which is how I understood it when he mentioned
that he hoped that it will find itself at home in the living rooms, workplace and
conversations) because it somehow was still presented in a language higher than that of
coffee table books.
The best part for me is how he presented the different key spiritualities within the
Christian spirituality. He explained each of the spiritualities well through universal images
the spirituality of ecclesiology like church as a house with many rooms and paschal
mystery as naming your deaths to accepting a new spirit. Spirituality as fulfilling a
vocation which is Gods call to us to be part of Gods ongoing incarnation, that we are
Gods presence in this world. His examples of the lives of ordinary people and of the saints
and quotes from them supported the ideas presented in the book. I was just looking for some
visuals or graphics to go with it.
I would definitely recommend this book to others but I might be some types of
readers that would appreciate it. I feel that this book is to the type of readers who have
already an overview of theology and who are already in that part of enriching their
spirituality and wanted to understand and go deeper into their own.

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I have learned so much from this book regarding Christian spirituality and would
helped me in teaching and sharing it with my students and children, and also to the people
who would want to learn more about spirituality and still in search of their spirituality. But if
it would be serious in its goal to be found in the homes, workplace and conversations, it
should use a simpler language in terms of inculturation and adding visuals and graphics, to
soothe the Filipino context and the youth in particular.