I’ve read a few Rolheiser’s books in the past but wasn’t aware of this one until it was referred to in Emma Timms’ book that I reviewed recently. It is potentially a quick read, coming in at 89 pages, but it’s worth taking more time to appreciate some of the gems it contains.

Ronald Rolheiser is a Canadian priest, born in 1947, who lives in San Antonio, Texas, where he teaches at the Oblate School of Theology. He writes extensively on contemplative life and spirituality.

In this slim volume Rolheiser discusses the possibility of being contemplatives in everyday life, however we live that out. It is certainly not, he suggests, a thing that’s only possible for monastics who retreat from the world to focus on a life of prayer and service, although there may be lessons to learn from the monastery. In short and practical chapters, he looks at topics like Real Friendship, Ritual for Sustaining Prayer, A Spirituality of Parenting, The Seasons of Life and Life’s Key Question, among others. He is not afraid to ask challenging questions and to open up the conversation around them.

The blurb on the back cover sums it up well:

“A monastery is a place set apart – to learn that powerlessness brings blessings and that time is not ours, but God’s. Monastics do this by physically withdrawing from the world. But in this book, Ronald Rolheiser shows how our domestic life at home and at work can, like life in a monastery, teach us these things.”

My favourite takeaway from the book lies in a question once asked by an elderly monk, “Give me some hints on how I should prepare to die! What should I do to make myself more ready for death?”

“Had that old monk cornered Jesus and asked him the same question he asked me, I suspect Jesus might have said:
Prepare for death by living more fully now.
Work at loving more deeply, less discriminately, more affectionately, and more gratefully.
Tell those close to you that you love them and death will never catch you like a thief in the night.”