Father Ron Rolheiser

Discernment isn’t an easy thing. Take this dilemma: When we find ourselves in a situation that’s causing us deep interior anguish, do we walk away, assuming that the presence of such pain is an indication that this isn’t the right place for us, that something’s terminally wrong here?

There is such a thing as a good death, a clean one, a death that, however sad, leaves behind a sense of peace. I have been a witness to it many times. Sometimes this is recognized explicitly when someone dies, sometimes unconsciously. It is known by its fruit.

John Updike, after recovering from a serious illness, wrote a poem he called “Fever.” It ends this way: But it is a truth long known that some secrets are hidden from health.

It is funny where the lessons of our classrooms are sometimes understood.

Most of us are familiar with Pope Francis’ comment that today the church needs to be a field hospital. What’s implied here?