Richard Rohr on the Path of Descent (Part 4)

About this sermon

This series of talks was delivered to a Presbyterian congregation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in early March 2003. In these talks Fr. Richard Rohr differentiates the gospel call to descent from religion’s common preoccupation with ascent. What Fr. Richard calls "the language of descent" is the "theme of themes" of the Bible. Call it "powerlessness," "the bias from the bottom," "the way of the cross" or "vulnerability," human beings have to be taught how to win by losing. Life itself is a series of necessary losses. In session 4, Fr. Richard Rohr concludes his teachings on the path of descent first noting that the message of the cross is about teaching people what to do with their pain, arguing that without a necessary ego humiliation sometime in the middle of life we hold on to the impossible idea of perfection and ultimately become hypocritical and cynical. The Franciscan Tradition, he teaches, views Christ on the cross as holding together the human and the divine, the symbolic bad thief and good thief (the two parts of the soul), the masculine body and the feminine soul: “it’s a marvelous mandala of wholeness and of integration.” CENTER FOR ACTION AND CONTEMPLATION The Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) is an educational nonprofit introducing seekers to the contemplative Christian path of transformation. Founded by Richard Rohr in 1987, our programs and resources are designed to help deepen prayer practice and strengthen compassionate engagement in the world. https://cac.org Subscribe: https://bit.ly/3QypRgu Learn more about Who We Are: https://bit.ly/3D8TtdU Learn more about What We Do: https://bit.ly/3qrYFGc Learn more about Richard Rohr: https://bit.ly/3ozYdmP Learn more about Contemplation: https://bit.ly/3wNojGF