Richard Rohr has some challenging good words as we begin this new year.
RESOLUTIONS
Sunday, January 1, 2012
RESOLVE TO LIVE AUTHENTICALLY IN 2012
“Turn around and believe the good news!” Jesus’ first preached words, Mark 1:15
The Christian life is a matter of becoming who we already are, and all that we truly are! Can you imagine that? Is the seed already within you—of all that God wants you to be? Do you already know at some level who you authentically are? Are you willing to pay the price? Even the mistrust of others? Could that be what we mean by having a unique “soul”? Most saints thus described the path as much more unlearning than learning. There are so many illusions and lies that we must all unlearn. And one of the last illusions to die is that we are that different or that separate, and finally we are all one and amazingly the same. Differentiation seems to precede union and communion, for some strange reason.
This growing illumination is not just one “decision for Jesus.” It is a whole journey of letting go and developing an ongoing practice of letting go, and turning around one more time, until it becomes a way of life. As the old Shakers used to sing and dance, “Turn, turn wherever you may be, and the turning never stops.” To be authentically human is to be willing to turn—and to be a saint is to have turned/changed many times. Away from my smallness and toward an Unspeakable Greatness—which is itself never fully attained.
– Richard Rohr, New Year’s Day 2012
Starter Prayer:
Help me begin again.