Richard Rohr

Whenever we’re led out of normalcy into sacred space, it’s going to feel like suffering. It’s letting go of what we’re used to. That causes suffering. Part of us always has to die. If that readiness isn’t there, we won’t enter into sacred space. The prophet leads us into sacred space by showing us the insufficiency of the old order; the role of the priest is to teach us how to live in the new realm. Unfortunately, the priest too often operates separately from prophet. He talks of a new realm but never leads us out of the old order where we are still largely trapped. Such priesthood is commonly ineffective, although quite popular. In this new realm, everything belongs. The awareness is often called a second naiveté. It is a return to simple consciousness. The first awareness is a dangerous naiveté. It doesn’t know but thinks it does. In second naiveté the darkness and light coexist, paradox is revealed, and we are finally at home in the only world that ever existed. This is true knowing. Here death is a part of life, and failure is a part of victory. Opposites collide and unite, and everything belongs.

 

Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs: the Gift of Contemplative Prayer