The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality

by Ronald Rolheiser

“I had a realization in church last year. I don’t know what Sunday it was, but I was listening to the readings a little more closely because my daughter was the reader. Well, just after my daughter finished, the priest started reading how Jesus’ body went up into heaven. A thought struck me then: That’s what has to happen to my daydream—I have to let it go up to heaven, like Jesus’ old body. It was a good dream, but it’s over! I have to stop living that dream so that I am not so damn restless and can get inside my own skin. I have every reason to be happy, but I’m not. There must be people like me, forty-seven years old and forty-five pounds overweight, living in small towns and working in Safeway stores, who are happy—and I want to be one of them! It’s a shame for my wife and kids—who are really good and in the end the only thing that’s important—that I haven’t been there for them like I should have been. I got to be who I am and get inside of my own life instead of trying to live somebody else’s life or trying to live a dream that was over a long time ago.” This man is ready for the ascension.