Richard Rohr - Seeing with God's eyes: Prayer as a new form of consciousness

Paul writes – Over the last couple of days I’ve been listening to a National Catholic Reporter interview with Franciscan Catholic Priest Richard Rohr. It’s been nice to hear his voice and engage with his thinking again, after doing a three-day workshop with him last October (06) – my notes are here, here, here, and here. Also see this post. The interview is titled: Seeing with God's eyes: Prayer as a new form of consciousness and is divided into three parts. Details of which are below. Right click on the title of each episode to download as an Mp3.

Episode 1: A different consciousness (27 min.)
Rohr tells Tom Fox: "I am convinced that prayer is a descriptor word for a different consciousness. When Jesus goes out and prays for 40 days, he is not saying Hail Mary’s and Our Fathers. He is looking out at life with a different set of eyes."

Episode 2: 'We don't have time for opposition' (13 min.)
"The future of Christianity is ecumenical," Rohr tells Tom Fox. No single denomination is big enough to contain Jesus; he says and outlines three characteristics of "the emerging church": 1) A recognition of social justice, Christianity has to be concerned about this world and suffering, 2) Openness to contemplation, and 3) Honest scholarship about Jesus.

Episode 3: What do we mean by 'transformation'? (15 min.)
"A lot of people still think that transformation means becoming more pious or becoming more law abiding or becoming more polite," Rohr tells Tom Fox. "By transformation I mean a different consciousness." It’s not about moral mandates, he said. "It’s looking at reality in a different way, which will certainly lead you to operate in highly moral ways, but you don’t start with morality and think that will get you there.

I’ve long appreciated the creative ways that Rohr holds the “contemplative” and “action” in tension – hence his founding of the Centre for Action and Contemplation. So, if you want something interesting to have a listen to over the weekend, I can highly recommend Richard.

Comments

[Gary Manders]

Thanks Paul. These were superb! I'm looking forward to his new book.

[Paul Fromont]

You're very welcome Gary. I'm pleased you found them "superb"... PAX.

[Ruth]

Just listened to the first podcast so far....Rohr is fantastic and encouraging. Thanks Paul, for making his interviews accessable to us.
Cheers, Ruth