28th
Phileena Heuertz Is Your New BFF
Phileena Heuertz is codirector (with her rad husband and Likewise author, Chris Heuertz) of Word Made Flesh (WMF)—an international community serving Christ among the most vulnerable of the world’s poor.
Phileena believes that union of action and contemplation is crucial to ongoing personal transformation, healthy community life, and sustainable, authentic social justice efforts. Out of that conviction she’s written her new book (which will be in stores next week!!), Pilgrimage of a Soul: Contemplative Spirituality for the Active Life, wherein she traces seven movements of the soul from awakening through longing, darkness, death, transformation, intimacy and union. As we travel this often circuitous path, we are led by Christ deeper and deeper into our true selves and a truer knowledge of God.
Here’s a short snippet from the book to whet your appetite. Of course, if you like-y, there’s more where that came from.
“The Christian contemplative tradition navigates our path toward a posture of receptivity to the One who can save us from our chaos and destruction—whether that is on a small, personal and social scale or on the grand landscape of global politics. All we have to do is submit to the process. That’s it. Submit. Surrender. Dare to approach God with humble adoration. But since the beginning of time, it seems that surrender is the most difficult of postures for humanity. We much prefer self-sufficiency and self-righteousness. In our attempt to “fix” ourselves, we prefer to order, direct and define our own spirituality. In contrast, contemplative spirituality carves the posture of surrender into the fabric of our being, making us most receptive to the transformation that we cannot obtain for ourselves.”Check out Phileena’s book in all the usual places. And become a fan on Facebook. She’s also on Twitter (@phileena), if you’re into that sort of thing.
The Likewise Team
