
The Spiritual Life with Fr. James Martin, S.J. Richard Rohr on God, brokenness and healing
Feb 3, 2026
Richard Rohr, Franciscan friar and author known for contemplative teaching, explores the Universal Christ as a presence beyond time and culture. He discusses shifting from moralism to brokenness and healing. He describes his practice of holy gazing and connects contemplative life to compassion, social ethics, and finding God in all things.
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Christ As Universal Presence
- The Universal Christ emphasizes Christ as the risen, omnipresent reality available to everyone through the Spirit.
- Richard Rohr argues this Christ of faith transcends time and invites finding God in all things.
Christology Shapes Ethics
- Seeing Christ as omnipresent prevents narrow, exclusionary Christianity like Christian nationalism.
- Rohr ties an expanded Christology to a social ethic that includes the marginalized.
Practice Holy Gazing Regularly
- Practice 'holy gazing': long, loving looking at reality without a checklist to enter contemplation.
- Rohr says simple, patient attention attaches you to the true, good, and beautiful and becomes prayer.






