New Book Focuses on Spirituality for Our Wisdom Years

 Jacket cover of Ronald Rolheiser's 2025 book, Insane for the Light: A Spirituality of Our Wisdom Years.

Insane for the Light: A Spirituality for Our Wisdom Years, published in 2025 and written by Ronald Rolheiser, OMI, is a spiritual journey through life’s final years and its “mellowing of souls.” Rolheiser also wrote two other modern spiritual classics, The Holy Longing and Sacred Fire. Rolheiser, a Catholic priest and theologian, is president emeritus of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas where he still teaches classes in Christian Spirituality. The Holy Longing is one of my favorite spiritual books.

Here at the Motherhouse campus in St. Augustine we decided to form a spiritual reading discussion group that would meet periodically to discuss each of Insane for the Light’s nine chapters. There are seven of us who began meeting in March and will continue for the next few months, meeting once every two weeks. Many other Sisters on campus are also reading the book.

In Chapter Two, “Some Anthropologies of Aging,” Rolheiser reviews several other writers’ views on aging. The ones I especially liked were James Hillman, Richard Rohr, and Kathleen Dowling Singh. Hillman says the last years of life are meant to mellow the soul, e.g., physical diminishment. Hillman thinks it is a time for reflection and character building. Rohr points out how elders are marginalized by society, and how we can be at peace in our skins by letting go, acceptance, and surrender. Kathleen Dowling Singh sees our final years as a time to die to self-consciousness and to become more aware of the spirit realm.

Hydrangea budding in Motherhouse gardens in 2025.

In Chapter Three of Insane for the Light, “The Challenge in Aging: From Achievement to Fruitfulness,” Rolheiser lists seven transitions or movements. Of the seven, the two that struck me the most were from resentment to gratitude and from achievement to fruitfulness. “Our fruitfulness is often the result of not so much of the great things we accomplish but of the graciousness, generosity, and kindness we bring into the world. (p. 49)”