The Holy Longing: Guidelines for a Christian Spirituality by Ronald Rolheiser

From the Publisher

Ronald Rolheiser makes sense of what is frequently a misunderstood word: spirituality. In posing the question "What is spirituality?" Father Rolheiser gets quickly to the heart of common difficulties with the subject, and shows through compelling anecdotes and personal examples how to channel that restlessness, that deep desire, into a healthy spirituality.

This book is for those searching to understand what Christian spirituality means and how to apply it to their own lives.  Rolheiser explains the nonnegotiables--the importance of community worship, the imperatives surrounding social action, the centrality of the Incarnation, the sustenance of the spiritual life--and how spirituality necessarily impacts every aspect of human experience.  At the core of this readable, deeply revealing book is an explanation of God and the Church in a world that more often than not doubts the credibility of both.

Publishers Weekly

"Spirituality is about what we do with our unrest... [it] is about what we do with that incurable desire, the madness that comes from the gods, within us." Rolheiser (Restless Heart) contends that the late 20th century is marked by a kind of spiritual restlessness, even though the spiritual landscape is littered with a variety of "spiritualities." He argues that there is richness in such spiritual diversity and plurality, but that many seekers lack direction in their spiritual search. Rolheiser develops a Christian spirituality that he believes offers some definite direction for seekers. At the heart of a healthy Christian spiritual life, he says, there must be four essentials: "private prayer and private morality; social justice; mellowness of heart and spirit; and community as a constitutive element of true worship." At the base of Christian spirituality, he notes, is the Incarnation of God in human flesh. If Christians can focus on the embodied character of their theology, then the four essentials of Christian spirituality become easier to embrace. In the latter half of the book, Rolheiser develops sketches of a spirituality of community (ecclesiology), a spirituality of sexuality and a spirituality of justice and peacemaking. We can sustain ourselves in the spiritual life, he notes, by being a mystic, sinning bravely, gathering ritually around the Word and breaking the bread, and worshipping and serving the right God. Rolheiser's program for Christian spirituality is reminiscent of the best work of Henri Nouwen and Daniel Berrigan. (July) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

This book tries to be a guidebook of sorts for those who have found Christianity less than palatable. Rolheiser, a popular columnist for the Catholic Herald and author of several books (e.g., Against an Infinite Horizon, Crossroad, 1996), teaches the meaning of Christian spirituality and how to apply it. He tackles belief in the Incarnation, community worship, social action, and sustaining spirituality in daily life, using formidable substance, good sense, and compelling anecdotes to reach the everyday person. Though aimed at Christians, Rolheiser's spiritual lessons are stripped to their essentials with sensitivity to various traditions. Public libraries staying current in contemporary spirituality will want to add this title, as will those aiming to keep their shelves stocked with popular religious dialog.--Leroy Hommerding, Citrus Cty. Lib. Syst., Inverness, FL Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

What People Are Saying

Alan Jones
Spirituality is often given a bad name because it can mask a damaging sentimentality. The Holy Longing is a bracing alternative to religious posturing. Truly incarnational, Ronald Rolheiser grounds his vision of the spiritual life in hard real-life experiences and tells tough truths. In the end, it is the hard truths of compassion, forgiveness, and action in the world, that give us a true and lasting hope. A much needed antidote to the consumerist view of religion, this book is both a delight and a challenge to read. (Alan Jones, Dean of Grace Cathedral and author of The Soul's Journey: the Three Passages of the Spiritual Life with Dante as Guide)

Delia Smith
If you're struggling to seek your own spirituality then let Father Rolheiser be your guide. In this book he will help you to end the search and simply uncover what is, and what has always been, already there. (Delia Smith)

Michael Downey
Anyone searching for substance and balance in the Christian spiritual life will welcome the wisdom in Ronald Rolheiser's words. His writing is at once learned and clear, not only warming the heart, but also giving light to the mind and guidance to feet stumbling amidst the complexities and ambiguities of our age. He steers clear of the fluffiness and fuzziness clouding today's spirituality superhighway, homing in on the essential elements of a Christian spirituality both sober and sane. The spine in Rolheiser's solid and original approach to a contemporary spirituality is the doctrine of the Incarnation. The particular merit of The Holy Longing is Rolheiser's ability to demonstrate how the bold belief in the Incarnation, affirming that 'God has skin', can altogether change our understanding of every dimension of the spiritual life- form desire, sexuality, and personal relationships to economic justice, ministry to the poor and wounded, and reconciliation among, nations, races and classes. (Michael Downey Professor of Systematic Theology and Spirituality Saint John's Seminary/Archdiocese of Los Angeles, editor of New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, North American editor of Spirituality)

Herbert O'Driscoll
He writes clearly and engagingly, his language can at times be lyrical. He is never sentimental...and all the time he is absolutely grounded in reality. (Herbert O' Driscoll. author of A Doorway in Time)

Helen Prejean
A master weaver as at work here...I found my soul on every page. At last we have a guide who helps us know what to do with the fire of desire within us. At last a comprehensive, life-giving approach to sexuality. At last a dynamic understanding of how the paschal mystery plays in our own lives. At last a way to weave love for the poor and struggling people with the highest mystical love of God...I love this book. (Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking)

Rembert G. Weakland
Without doubt, Ronald Rolheiser's The Holy Longing is one of the best books about Christian spirituality that has been published in many a year. Its insights are just what all of us need at this moment of history. It blends the old and the new in ways that few other authors can do." (Most Reverend Rembert G. Weakland, O.S.B. Archbishop of Milwaukee)

Alban McCoy
Spiritual books abound but few hit the mark. Ronald Rolheiser's latest book is one of the few. Sound good sense and insight are combined with genuine sympathy and understanding for the majority of us who struggle spiritually. Rolheiser's starting point is the insatiable desire deep within us that yearns irresistibly for fulfillment and which is the root of spirituality. But this book is concerned not merely with techniques and methods of prayer: there is also solid theological content conveyed accessibly and imaginatively, and drawing upon a wide cultural and literary background. (Alban McCoy, The Tablet)

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