Holy Fools

Ushers of the next generation in the church.
by Richard Rohr, O.F.M.

This article by Richard Rohr was orginally published in Sojourners magazine. Read the whole article for a very insightful view of the future of the church. It came to my attention, oddly enought, during the recent US General Election. For starters, I am reminded that the whole body of Christ is very broken right now over the re-election of GWB as president. It is an especially sinister violence against the Broken One. Time for mercy, repentence, and forgiveness by each and all.

"Was Jesus playing the holy fool or just being a curmudgeon when he quoted Hosea to well-informed and well-intentioned believers: "What I want is mercy and not your heroic sacrifices!" (Matthew 9:13, 12:7, 23:23)? The holy fool knows that there is an agenda that is beyond efficiency, rightness, and being in control of outcomes. The mystics call it "union with God." Meister Eckhart put it best of all: "If the soul could have known God without the world, the world would never have been created." In the realm of the Spirit, although not in the realm of logic, everything belongs. This horrible time, this broken church, no less than the murdering of Christ, is good teacher and savior. Romano Guardini, a fervent Italian monsignor, said in the 1950s that "the church has always been the cross that Christ is crucified on." The tomb of Christ and the resurrection of Christ, I would add."

Richard Rohr, O.F.M., founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and author of Radical Grace (St. Anthony Messenger, 1993), was a Sojourners contributing editor when this article appeared.