"Long before we do anything explicitly religious at all, we have to do something about the fire that burns within us," writes Ronald Rolheiser. "What we do with that fire, how we channel it, is our spirituality." From the opening chapter, where Rolheiser eloquently compares the burning spiritual fire of Mother Teresa, Janice Joplin, and Princess Diana, readers will be fully engaged in a unique and altogether fascinating discussion of Christian spirituality.

If you are Catholic don't be mislead by reading this book!

There is danger to your Catholic Faith if you read any of Ron Rolheiser's books. Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, the author of The Holy Longing is, unfortunately a priest who has some ideas that are totally contrary to the Church. Most of what he writes is lacking in anything nourishing to one's faith. However, he has gone on record as stating that he does not believe anyone goes to Hell for eternity - that if anyone goes to Hell, they will go to Heaven later, that Hell is probably empty, and that the Holy Eucharist is the "first Sacrament of Reconciliation" - encouraging people in a state of mortal sin to receive the Eucharist and be forgiven. Clearly, he is not someone to follow!

The test of a book being Catholic is that when it makes one point, that point does not take away from other points in the Catholic faith. Fr. Rolheiser is weak on teaching other traditional doctrines like the reality of personal sin, the need for confession, and the danger of hell. A Catholic priest has to preach the whole truth. If he does not, he presents a danger to the faith. Now the weakness of many Catholics today is that they tend to forget the importance of personal confession to a priest, the importance of avoiding venial and mortal sin. So everyone in the congregation goes up to Holy Communion as a matter of course. Now if Father addressed himself to these "hard" teachings, which those who have read his books have not detected, I would not be uneasy about him. But as it is, he sounds too much like the many preachers who never even mention sin and hell for year after year. Also, none of his books have an Imprimatur or Nihil Obstat.

A Comprehensive Understanding of Christianity

This is a great book for any one who is struggling spiritually or wants to deepen and enrich their faith. Written in a very engaging style this is a great book for understanding what Christianity is and how to live a Christian book. Rolheiser's biggest contribution, I believe, is his emphasis on the need to balance personal prayer with community (the church), social action and a mellowness of heart (doing these things for the right reasons). His chapter on sexuality may seem the least grounded, but I think it's one of his most important, because too often Christianity has associated sexuality with the secular and bad, rather than affirming its role in the Christian life. I really believe there is something for everyone within the covers of this book.

Somewhat drab

This book was praised and recommended by a clergy person. It's makes for pretty bland reading.