Rhythm of Retreat and Return

 Rhythm of Retreat and Return

Tuesday, September 4, 2018 Richard Rohr
EDIT

cac.org/a-rhythm-of-retreat-and-return-2018-09-04/

  contemplation and community 

when mainstream Christianity 

lost these threads, groups 

in Africa and the Middle East

 continued to cultivate them.

• prophetic utterance
• public theology, and intense
• spiritual renewal. 

the desert...the wilderness

a place that will be the home of latter-day desert mothers and fathers. 

After an intense time of
 fasting,
 testing, and 
submission to the leading of the Holy Spirit, 

Jesus returns ready to fulfill his calling. These 

rhythms of 
activism and
 contemplation,
 engagement and
 withdrawal 

resonate throughout his life.

the intimacy of close communal groups in house churches and catacombs. 

knowledge of God as an understanding that exceeds rational and objective thought.

can be experienced as presence.

contemplation usually assumes the tangible reality of God’s love, our shortcomings, and the inexplicable possibility of reunion. 

relationship is a primary goal of Christian life.

willingness to engage God through a devout community of committed individuals is a theme 

“be in but not of the world” 

orientation that fosters and encourages connections to the multiple realities of faith. 

Persecution only strengthened the tendency toward a life that emphasized interiority as well as liberation

spurred the development of contemplative practices.

When Christianity began, it was small and intense, communal and set apart

the contemplative aspects of the faith could not be nurtured under the largesse of the state

monasticism flourished in the [African and Middle Eastern] desert as Christian converts retreated for respite and spiritual clarity.

harsh and isolated sites,

The decision to retreat drew others to them. Communities formed as city dwellers came out to seek advice and solace.


rhythm of retreat and return. It was in the wilderness that African contemplatives carved out unique spiritual boundaries.









































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