Richard Rohr - Yes, and...: Daily Meditations

YES, AND

Yes, and

daily meditations

RICHARD ROHR

Unless otherwise stated, Scripture passages are the authors own translation.

Cover image: Two Doors, Mont St. Michel, France,

William Clift 1997

Cover and book design by Mark Sullivan

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

(from the hardback edition)

Rohr, Richard.

Yes, and : daily meditations / Richard Rohr. pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-61636-644-5 (alk. paper)

1. Meditations. I. Title.

BV4832.3.R64 2013

242.2dc23

2013009745

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019944843

ISBN: 978-1-63253-292-3

Copyright 2013, 2019 Richard Rohr. All rights reserved.

Published by Franciscan Media

28 W. Liberty St.

Cincinnati, OH 45202

www.FranciscanMedia.org

Printed in the United States of America.

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GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I know my name is on the cover but, in terms of the actual existence of this book, it is almost entirely the result of the work, care, and devotion of others. I can only deeply thank them from my heart, fully knowing that God will thank them in much better ways. This book, finally titled Yes, And, really did take a village to produce.

These meditations are, first of all, the product of the hard work of Marcia Wagner, Paul Swanson, and Judy Traeger, who spent years, months, weeks, and hours surveying endless books, articles, and CDs to find statements of mine that might be helpful to other people. What humble love and servicefrom each of them! They had an eye for what would speak to the mind, the heart, and the soul of people today, and often wisely edited my poor expressions into contemporary and coherent format. The number of people who subscribe to these daily online meditations and exchange them with others has continued to grow exponentially over the years.

Then Vanessa Guerin, the marvelous editor of CAC publications, took on the added task of an overall edit of these meditations, often putting up with my procrastination and travel schedule. It is also to her credit that we have such beautiful, artistic, and clever banners that stand at the head of each online daily meditation. She was generously assisted by former CAC staff member Aaron Wallentine, who served as webmaster.

Vanessa was joined by CAC volunteer Vivian Bowman and staff member Joelle Chase in the laborious work of editing. They all kindly said to me things like, Richard, what do you really want to say here? or People are going to think you are saying. I am sure they have saved me from many confused readers, unnecessary hate mail, and even the ire of pious bishops and clergy.

Finally, our dear friends and partners at Franciscan Media continued to politely ask if we could put these online meditations into book form. The title came to us quickly, and all agreed with it. First, we want to say yes to what has been said, and then add what is often not said for various and sundry reasons. Since we had worked to synthesize my writings for our Living School, we came up with seven major underlying themes on which I seem to be invariably teaching. These gave us the frame and format for the whole collection.

Kind and patient Judy Traeger returned to the scene to organize, under the seven themes, a years worth of choice reflections from four years of online meditations. Former staff member and professional editor Shirin McArthur stepped in at the end to address references and polish the manuscript.

I surely could never have done any of the above myself! So, Marcia, Paul, Judy, Vanessa, Aaron, Vivian, Joelle, Shirin, and friends at Franciscan Media, I leave all well-deserved thanks to a good God and, if anyone accuses me of heresy or impropriety, I pray it does not extend to any of you.

With some providence, I first wrote this in January of 2013, on the feast of St. Anthony of Egypt (251356), who fled to the desert, along with many others, when imperial thinking began to compromise his more honest and radical understanding of the teaching of Jesus. I asked for his blessing then and beg it again, five years later, in the summer of 2018, for this revised edition.

Richard Rohr, OFM

FOREWORD

David G. Benner, PHD

Every season of life offers special gifts and this wonderful collection of daily meditations clearly reveals that Richard Rohr is busy unwrapping important stage-of-life giftsand what a blessing that is to the rest of us!

I have been reading Fr. Rohr for the past twenty years and eagerly look forward to each of his new books. This collection of meditations will be a gift to anyone who reads it but is, I think, a particularly special gift to those of us who have been journeying with him for a while. The reason for that is that the book is organized around the seven underlying themes of his life and teaching.

Erik Erikson describes the developmental challenge of the eighth stage of a successfully lived life as involving a movement from generativity to ego integrity. No one familiar with his prodigious output of books, webcasts, conferences, and newsletters could ever doubt that Fr. Rohr has achieved the generativity that Erikson suggests is the core developmental challenge of midlife. However, the contentment, fulfillment, and wisdom that are the core of maturity in late adulthood do not come from productivity or creativity. The challenge of the eighth stage of life is to avoid despair by reflecting on ones life and understanding its meaning and significance.

Such reflection was the inner work out of which this collection of meditations was born and is what makes this book so much more than a mere compendium of musings. The authors articulation of the seven big themes is itself worth the price of this book. But these are more than simply the themes that have organized his lifes work; they are the fundamental issues with which any serious Christian must engage to develop a healthy and holistic spiritual worldview.

The result is a set of daily meditations that offers meat for chewing, not warm milk to make us feel good. And chewingthat is, ponderingis exactly what I have been doing since reading these meditations. The wonderful thing about this format is that the meat is nicely cut up into small pieces so there is no worry about choking! What makes them worth pondering is that they are the result of a life well-lived.

So, prepare yourself for a treat. Settle back, read this book slowly, and make space in your day to chew on what you are reading. Doing so will deepen your life

INTRODUCTION

By What Authority?

Luke 20:2

This might seem like a short, but heavy, introduction to a book of meditations, but I want to be clear from the beginning about where I get the authority and confidence to talk the way I do. I do not want you to think the meditations in this book are just my personal ideas and opinions. Yes, my ongoing love and my ongoing education have largely been based in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures and I have preached and taught from them for over forty years. I have often struggled with how much damage the Bible has done in human historyand I have often been amazed at how much good the Bible has done too! There has to be a way to maximize these inherent possibilities for the good, the true, and the beautiful. I hope I can do that here, even if you are not a reader of the Scriptures yourself. They have a kind of natural and inherent authority, even if you are not a religious person as such.

You deserve to know my science for interpreting sacred texts. It is called a hermeneutic. Without an honest and declared hermeneutic, we have no consistency or authority in our interpretation of the Bible. My methodology is very simple;