De Mello to Br. Roger - What a transition

A week or so ago I finished the volume of the Modern Spiritual Masters on Anthony de Mello and now I'm reading the volume on Brother Roger of Taize.

What a change!

• De Mello is full of humor and spiritual "shock and awe" with short stories and exercises packed like dynamite to jar a new insight.  Br. Roger is like a smoldering fire or a deep pool.  The insights are profound and invite the reader to the depths of the heart.
• De Mello invites the head to new understanding, Br. Roger invites the heart to new feelings.
• De Mello's writings are never about himself or his own experience.  They invite the reader to experience something new for themselves.  Br. Roger lays out the way his own heart sees the world and invites the reader to see the world with his eyes.
• De Mello focuses on the individual.  Br. Roger focuses on the person in community.
• De Mello is a thinker.  Br. Roger is a feeler.
• De Mello invites laughter.  Br. Roger invites tears.
• I'm reminded of the saying "life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel."
• De Mello seems light.  Br. Roger, heavy and profound.

Both of these men are spiritual masters, but their approaches could not be more different.  They each have come to know and communicate the God of Jesus Christ in powerful, life-giving ways.  I thank God for each of them.  I can imagine myself being healed through laughing with De Mello and weeping with Br. Roger.  Both men offer a way to God in freedom and love.

ZENIT - On St. Matilda, God's Nightingale

This address by Benedict XVI was recommended by my friend Dwayne.  It points out the power of the liturgy to make saints.  The formative power of the liturgy is incredible and I am struggling, as a Parish Director in a parish without a resident priest as Pastor to unleash that power.  How does one unleash the formative power of the liturgy in a community which gathers only once a week?

ZENIT - On St. Matilda, God's Nightingale