BOOK REVIEW: The Holy Longing, The Search for a Christian Spirituality

September 9, 2004

EDITOR'S NOTE: This book review is sponsored by the Religious Education Media Center as a service to those interested in developing their own spirituality. Books featured in this column can be borrowed from the diocesan media center.

You may request this or other books by writing Deacon Larry Sitzman, Religious Education Media Center, 1821 Jackson St., Sioux City, IA 51102, e-mail him at larrys@scdiocese.org or phone (712) 255-7933.

To request this book, ask for p.r. 1323.

Sister Joan Stoffel, a Franciscan sister who resides in Sioux City, offers this book review on The Holy Longing, The Search for a Christian Spirituality (ix). Sister Joan retired in July after serving as an educator for more than 50 years. Most recently she was curriculum director and superintendent of Catholic schools for the diocese.

The Holy Longing, The Search for a Christian Spirituality by Ronald Rohlheiser is an outline of spirituality for the contemporary Christian. He states in the first line of the Preface, "This is a book for you if you are struggling spiritually." (ix) His style of writing and use of anecdotes assists the reader in understanding what it is to live a spiritual life in the midst of the challenges of our day.

Father Rohlheiser poses this question as one of the purposes of writing the book: What vision and what disciplines do we need to creatively channel the erotic, spiritual fire inside of us so that its end result is creative days and restful nights and an enduring peace with our God, each other, and within ourselves? With such a big order in mind, the author systematically addresses what he calls the "nonnegotiable pillars" of the spiritual life.

Private prayer and private morality, social justice, mellowness of heart and spirit and community as a constitutive element of true worship are the terms Rohlheiser uses to describe the nonnegotiable elements of the spiritual life. The stories he uses to illustrate the importance of each component show the meaning of each and the balance that must occur between and among each "nonnegotiable." Thus, one cannot check off the elements as being completed, but must create a balance that supports this definition of spirituality: spirituality is about a communal search for the face of God - and one searches communally only within a historical community. (P. 69)Part Three, "The Incarnation as the Basis for a Christian Spirituality" explains the heart of living one's Christian life. Jesus must always be the center, the reason, and the basis for living a Godly life. Prayer, reconciliation, healing, religious experience and mission take on new meanings in real relationships that allow the God-life to flow through us.

Father Rohlheiser understands humanity and the challenges of living the spiritual life, and writes for persons in any walk of life.

In the concluding chapters, the author cites spirituality from the perspective of Church, the Paschal Mystery, Justice and Peacemaking and Sexuality. In fact, he names each as a "Spirituality of." These chapters offer further information and reflection as he uses Scripture and other spiritual writers to deepen our understanding of spirituality in the broad sense.

The final chapter captures, Father Rohlheiser's own understanding of spirituality for the ordinary person. He offers encouragement and tells us that "In an age when it is so difficult to sustain faith and to sustain community, there can be no better advice to us than that of Jesus himself - Gather around the word of God and break the bread together... He promised to do the rest." (P.237)