Near Occasions of Grace

Near Occasions of Grace deals with many of the issues that we are discussing in my Secular Franciscan formation. Chapter Titles: God's Good News, Conversion, Pure Passion, Community, To Care and Not to Care, A Life Pure and Simple, Near Occasions of Grace and Out of a Prayerful Heart pg. 49 "The Christian life is a matter of becoming who we already are." pg. 53 "We have become a commodity church. We have allowed the Gospel to become something we buy and sell to others, something we use for power and good feeling. We have done to God what we do quite comfortably to one another - use him! Fr. Rohr uses the Trinity as the example of perfect love and that our family is a human model that can only be created, waited for,enjoyed, lost, but never used. Discussing simplicity, Fr. Rohr states that St. Francis' life of poverty was the incarnation continuing in space and time. It was the presence of the Spirit taken absolutely seriously. It was being Jesus more than simply worshiping him. pg. 83 "Francis did not want his friars to preach salvation (although they did that too) as much as he wanted them to be salvation." Fr. Rohr continues stating that you cannot love anyone unless you learn to love everyone. He uses two spiritual disciplines to keep him honest and growing: contemplative prayer and the perspective from the bottom. I enjoyed this book very much. It tackles some of the more challenging issues related to being church and community as well as a grounded Franciscan perspective on simplicty and continuing the work of getting ourselves out of the way so that we can see God at work in our lives.

This was the first book by Richard Rohr that I read a while back & it encouraged me to read more of his works.Rohr brings home the reality of the Incarnation in earthy language & enables the reader to connect with the "human" Christ.The reader cant help but be enthralled by the sheer reality & humaness of Jesus.So different from the portrait many author's paint of the Christ nowadays.Rohr also brings the truth of the initiative of God in phrases like "God is not just an experience of mine,but more rightly,I am an experience in the mind & heart of God." His desription of God as "A trinitarian God is a God in relationship" is brilliant.This book has been on the market for a while & I would to recommend it to anyone who is stuggling to come to grips with the "human" Jesus.