During the Lenten season, Neal will lead a book study on Richard Rohr's The Universal Christ. Rohr, founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation and a leader in contemplative practice, invites readers into an expansive view of Christ as a window into God. The online book study meets on Tuesdays, 7:30 to 8:30 pm, and an in-person study meets Wednesdays, 10:00 to 11:00 am at Good Shepherd | Hickory Hill.

For Week 3:

Read: Chapters 10-13

Reflect:

1) What does Rohr mean by the “divine feminine”? What role does Mary, the mother of Jesus, play in that understanding? How is Mary “the archetype for our yes to God”? (p.127)

2) What does Jesus offer when he says, “This is my body”? What does the “Christification of matter” mean? How does the Eucharist engage the mind, body, and spirit?  

3) What makes the cross transformative instead of transactional? What does it mean that “reality has a cruciform pattern”? (p.146)

4) What is the relationship between our individual suffering, the world’s suffering, and God’s suffering?

5) What were some surprises in your reading? What sentence(s) struck you? What parts confused you?