Rolheiser manages to weave together personal stories from his parish ministry, stories from Scripture, and stories from the writings of the saints in order to create a wholistic and organic way of looking at our spiritual journey. So often we fall into the rules, regulations, rites, and rituals nature of spirituality, participating in the Sacrament of Confession and partaking of Communion without thinking about what these actions mean. Rolheiser highlights some important aspects of our spiritual life and teaches his readers what it means to live a mature life in Christ.
The book is divided into three major parts
A Vision of Discipleship
Mature Discipleship, The Struggle to Give Our Lives Away
Radical Discipleship, The Struggle to Give our Deaths Away
While this book focuses primarily on the second section, which is also the longest, he admits that he will be writing a book about Radical Discipleship which is very important, the notion that the way we live can reflect the way we die. If we want to have a good death we need to live a good life.
Rolheiser says that in our childhood and young adult years we are in the beginnings of our discipleship. We look at the Church, God, prayer, and life in very simple and often childish ways. We are just in the beginning stages of our life and therefore have a hard time thinking down the road. We are just beginning our walk of faith and often fall, not realizing the mistakes we make.
Mature discipleship is coming to grips with our mortality and the choices that we make. Since I"m in my 40's I am right in the center of the mature discipleship, realizing that certain dreams and goals will never happen but at the same time being okay with that. In my 20's there was a strong passion for life, for moving mountains and so forth. Yet in our 40's and 50's Rolhieser says that we come to grips with the fact that life isn't that way. We have to realize our limitations and that our goals and dreams always don't come to fruition. We have to accept life as it comes, reminding ourselves that our call to faith does not equal success, especially in the eyes of the world. Jesus called his disciples to faithfulness, not to successfulness. Settling for life as it comes does not mean failure, it means accepting that we are human and that we cannot do and have everything we want. A fifteen year old may throw a tantrum because they cannot buy a game or a special piece of clothing or music. If a fifty year old does that we call him or her "immature" because they are acting like a teenager. Rolheiser says that it's normal for a fifteen year old to act that way but not a fifty year old, at least a fifty year old that is living a mature life in Christ. However, I have met fifty year old and even seventy year olds who act like teenagers sometimes!
The third part regards the nature of a good death. The way we live can hopefully reflect the way we die. If we live in a way that is Christian, realizing that we are all mortal and one day we will leave this world as we know it then our death can be a blessing for us and for those around us. I am looking forward to reading more about this in Rolheiser's next book.
If you want to dig into a good spiritual book this year, one that will provide you with "food for the journey" then look no further than Sacred Fire. You won't be disappointed.
For more information about Sacred Fire click here
