Ron Rolheiser

Priest, speaker, columnist, best-selling author and President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, TX

Insights About Suicide

Fr. Ron Rolheiser, who has been speaking and writing about suicide for many years, says not a week goes by that someone doesn't reach out to him to for understanding and comfort about these devastating events. "The person who jumps out of a building because their clothes are on fire -- they freely chose to jump out of the building -- but why? Because they were on fire ... I would submit that most suicide victims leave the world against their will."

The Paschal Mystery

Our lives consist of many, many situations where circumstances as we knew them essentially die or disappear. We are then offered new circumstances, whether we like it or not. "We face many deaths within our lives and the choice is ours whether those deaths will be terminal (snuffing out life and spirit) or paschal (opening us to new life) Grieving is the key to the latter."

Giving God Skin

Our prayers can only be effective if we work to make them happen. "If your mother is sick and you pray for her, but you do not drive her to see the doctor, then you did not pray as a Christian. We have to put our own flesh to prayers to help make them happen. When we do, we are praying through Christ."

Secularity and the Gospel

Secularity is not the enemy of the Christian world. Instead, secularity should be viewed as the child of the Christian world. "The secular world is still a world loved by God and a world with much moral and spiritual strength. In the name of faith, we are called to love that world."

Restlessness

Restlessness, which is part of our human condition, can become a cancer in our lives. "Peace and restfulness can come to us only when we stop demanding that life -- our spouses, our families, our friends, our jobs, our vocations and vacations -- give us something that they cannot give, namely, the finished symphony, clear-cut pure joy, complete consummation."