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Insane for the Light: A Spirituality for Our Wisdom Years
A spiritual journey through life's final years and its "mellowing of souls"—the long-awaited conclusion of Father Rolheiser's trilogy of modern spiritual classics, following
The Holy Longing
and
Sacred Fire
As the shadows lengthen and we find ourselves no longer in the morning or noon of life, but face its approaching dusk, we discover a new spiritual to give away the final years of our lives and our deaths. So argues beloved author Ronald Rolheiser. During life's first years, we embark on a search for meaning and discover in ourselves a profound, unquenchable thirst for the Divine. And when we reach adulthood, we find that we are called to give our lives away―to our spouses, children, careers, friends and neighbors in need. But in the end, we must learn to let it all go.
In this highly anticipated conclusion to his trilogy the spiritual classics, The Holy Longing and Sacred Fire, and with characteristic attentiveness and care, Rolheiser accompanies listeners on a spiritual journey through life's final years and its "mellowing of souls." In these years, bitterness can give way to forgiveness, mere imagination to profound and subtle faith, wishful optimism to virtuous hope, and control to surrender. Listeners will learn to see in Jesus a model for a spirituality of passivity, and find in him the courage to overcome the darkest nights of faith.
Drawing on the work of John of the Cross and Henri Nouwen, Rolheiser outlines a spirituality capable of giving away one's death―and therefore a spirituality of truly living.
As the shadows lengthen and we find ourselves no longer in the morning or noon of life, but face its approaching dusk, we discover a new spiritual to give away the final years of our lives and our deaths. So argues beloved author Ronald Rolheiser. During life's first years, we embark on a search for meaning and discover in ourselves a profound, unquenchable thirst for the Divine. And when we reach adulthood, we find that we are called to give our lives away―to our spouses, children, careers, friends and neighbors in need. But in the end, we must learn to let it all go.
In this highly anticipated conclusion to his trilogy the spiritual classics, The Holy Longing and Sacred Fire, and with characteristic attentiveness and care, Rolheiser accompanies listeners on a spiritual journey through life's final years and its "mellowing of souls." In these years, bitterness can give way to forgiveness, mere imagination to profound and subtle faith, wishful optimism to virtuous hope, and control to surrender. Listeners will learn to see in Jesus a model for a spirituality of passivity, and find in him the courage to overcome the darkest nights of faith.
Drawing on the work of John of the Cross and Henri Nouwen, Rolheiser outlines a spirituality capable of giving away one's death―and therefore a spirituality of truly living.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published October 28, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 12, 2025
Summary: The spiritual journey of our final years, learning not only how to relinquish one’s life but to give away one’s death.
On Saturday, I learned of the passing of an actor whose movies I watched as a young adult. She was eight years older than I am. This is not an uncommon experience when I read of the deaths of famous people, or the obituary page from my high school on Facebook. It reminds me that part of the business of this stage of my life is to live with intention and attention toward my death. How does God want to continue to form me in the way of Christ as my bodily and mental powers wane? And how may I live so that my life, and even my death, may be a gift to those I love?
There are not many guides for this journey. Many of the books about spirituality address our productive years and the transitions of midlife. But what about the years of autumn and winter? In recent years, I’ve come to appreciate the writing of Ronald Rolheiser in his books The Holy Longing and Sacred Fire. I discovered that this new book, Insane for the Light completes this trilogy. In the first, Rolheiser writes about our search for meaning. Then in the second, he speaks to how we give our lives away. Now, in an interesting turn of phrase, he writes about how we give our deaths away. Rolheiser observes:
“Giving our deaths away as a gift to our loved ones means that at some point in our lives, we need to stop focusing on our agenda and begin to focus on our obituary, on what kind of spirit we will leave behind.”
But what does that look like?
Rolheiser begins with anthropologies from aging, considering voices as diverse as Hindu mythology’s sannyasin to Germain Greer’s crone, Richard Rohr’s angry or holy old fools, and David Brooks’ call to scale the second mountain of meaning and love. Then he considers the challenge of transformation in aging. Instead of becoming the same person, only more so, he addresses seven transformations, all summarized in Jesus call to metanoia, the change of mind into creatures more like God. More like Christ. In the end, the image of Christ defenseless on the cross, submitting to death and giving his life, is our model. In our death, how we deal with helplessness, the loss of control are crucial. It is the experience of passivity. We may embrace or bitterly fight this, but if embraced, following Jesus in death is lifegiving to others.
But this journey is sometimes a journey through dark nights. Rolheiser draws upon the wisdom of St. john of the Cross’s Dark Night of the Soul. He offers wise counsel for how we live through such nights (pp. 80-82) that is worth the price of the book. He proposes that the purpose of the “dark night” is so that “God can flow into our lives and into this world purely, uncontaminated by human projection and self interest, because in our frustrating darkness we are helpless to control the experience.”
Then Rolheiser turns to the image of the “beggars hut.” In fact, that hut is the aging process. a kind of monastic existence with its own order of tasks. Carrying tension for the young. Offering prophecy to the world. Radiating God’s compassion. Rescuing God from narrowness. Blessing the young. Giving up on fear. Preparing for our move to a place beyond the illusion of self sufficiency. Making peace with those in our circle through the words “Please forgive me,” “I forgive you,” “Thank you,” and “I love you.” Rolheiser synthesizes Henri Nouwen’s ideas of how we give our deaths away into twelve invitations.
In his final chapters Rolheiser addresses his thoughts about the afterlife, including our communion with those who have died. Finally, he outlines St. John of the Cross’s paradigm of spiritual transformation. He includes examples of transformation through prayer and through service. His parting word comes from St. John’s advice:
“We all have made vows: to one another, to God, and to ourselves. John of the Cross simply advises that we stay within these vows and accept the times of disillusionment–and then love, others, maturity, and God will find us,”
It seems to me that the book’s central idea is that our aging is an invitation to die with Christ. What I find most attractive in this is that it suggests that old people can grow! We can be transformed by God through the aging process. We can mellow, become grateful, forgiving, hopeful, and childlike. Then we generously give away the remainder of our lives–and our deaths. And in our dying, we become “insane for the light” of God’s glory. I recall reading of my childhood pastor’s final words: “The glory, the glory!” To read these words was a gift, as is remembering them. He gave his death away to others.
_______________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
On Saturday, I learned of the passing of an actor whose movies I watched as a young adult. She was eight years older than I am. This is not an uncommon experience when I read of the deaths of famous people, or the obituary page from my high school on Facebook. It reminds me that part of the business of this stage of my life is to live with intention and attention toward my death. How does God want to continue to form me in the way of Christ as my bodily and mental powers wane? And how may I live so that my life, and even my death, may be a gift to those I love?
There are not many guides for this journey. Many of the books about spirituality address our productive years and the transitions of midlife. But what about the years of autumn and winter? In recent years, I’ve come to appreciate the writing of Ronald Rolheiser in his books The Holy Longing and Sacred Fire. I discovered that this new book, Insane for the Light completes this trilogy. In the first, Rolheiser writes about our search for meaning. Then in the second, he speaks to how we give our lives away. Now, in an interesting turn of phrase, he writes about how we give our deaths away. Rolheiser observes:
“Giving our deaths away as a gift to our loved ones means that at some point in our lives, we need to stop focusing on our agenda and begin to focus on our obituary, on what kind of spirit we will leave behind.”
But what does that look like?
Rolheiser begins with anthropologies from aging, considering voices as diverse as Hindu mythology’s sannyasin to Germain Greer’s crone, Richard Rohr’s angry or holy old fools, and David Brooks’ call to scale the second mountain of meaning and love. Then he considers the challenge of transformation in aging. Instead of becoming the same person, only more so, he addresses seven transformations, all summarized in Jesus call to metanoia, the change of mind into creatures more like God. More like Christ. In the end, the image of Christ defenseless on the cross, submitting to death and giving his life, is our model. In our death, how we deal with helplessness, the loss of control are crucial. It is the experience of passivity. We may embrace or bitterly fight this, but if embraced, following Jesus in death is lifegiving to others.
But this journey is sometimes a journey through dark nights. Rolheiser draws upon the wisdom of St. john of the Cross’s Dark Night of the Soul. He offers wise counsel for how we live through such nights (pp. 80-82) that is worth the price of the book. He proposes that the purpose of the “dark night” is so that “God can flow into our lives and into this world purely, uncontaminated by human projection and self interest, because in our frustrating darkness we are helpless to control the experience.”
Then Rolheiser turns to the image of the “beggars hut.” In fact, that hut is the aging process. a kind of monastic existence with its own order of tasks. Carrying tension for the young. Offering prophecy to the world. Radiating God’s compassion. Rescuing God from narrowness. Blessing the young. Giving up on fear. Preparing for our move to a place beyond the illusion of self sufficiency. Making peace with those in our circle through the words “Please forgive me,” “I forgive you,” “Thank you,” and “I love you.” Rolheiser synthesizes Henri Nouwen’s ideas of how we give our deaths away into twelve invitations.
In his final chapters Rolheiser addresses his thoughts about the afterlife, including our communion with those who have died. Finally, he outlines St. John of the Cross’s paradigm of spiritual transformation. He includes examples of transformation through prayer and through service. His parting word comes from St. John’s advice:
“We all have made vows: to one another, to God, and to ourselves. John of the Cross simply advises that we stay within these vows and accept the times of disillusionment–and then love, others, maturity, and God will find us,”
It seems to me that the book’s central idea is that our aging is an invitation to die with Christ. What I find most attractive in this is that it suggests that old people can grow! We can be transformed by God through the aging process. We can mellow, become grateful, forgiving, hopeful, and childlike. Then we generously give away the remainder of our lives–and our deaths. And in our dying, we become “insane for the light” of God’s glory. I recall reading of my childhood pastor’s final words: “The glory, the glory!” To read these words was a gift, as is remembering them. He gave his death away to others.
_______________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
Read
November 15, 2025I read Fr. Rolheiser’s Sacred Fire and am reading Insane for the Light, and have found/am finding both very helpful and well written. But, in the nitpicking department:
Like many seminary products, including me, Fr. Rolheiser likes to explain the etymology of English words derived from Greek and Latin. In his explanation of metanoia, he says the English for the Greek meta is “above.” My Brave browser’s AI tool says
Fr. Rolheiser also says that the Latin word passio means passivity. Brave browser’s AI says
--with apologies
Like many seminary products, including me, Fr. Rolheiser likes to explain the etymology of English words derived from Greek and Latin. In his explanation of metanoia, he says the English for the Greek meta is “above.” My Brave browser’s AI tool says
In Koine Greek, the preposition μετά (meta) primarily means "with," "after," or "among". It denotes accompaniment, association, or proximity, often implying a relationship of participation or sequence. It can be used with the genitive case to mean "with" or "among," as in "God is with us" (Matthew 1:23), or with the accusative case to mean "after" or "behind," as in "after two days" (Matthew 26:2). The term also carries the sense of "beyond" or "change," a meaning that evolved into philosophical uses such as in Aristotle's Metaphysics, which studies what lies "beyond" physical phenomena.(I seem to recall learning that the title Metaphysics was given to the work by someone other than Aristotle, meaning the book or treatise that came after or was stored next to Aristotle’s Physics.)
Fr. Rolheiser also says that the Latin word passio means passivity. Brave browser’s AI says
The Latin word passio primarily means "suffering" or "enduring," derived from the verb patior (to suffer, endure). In Late Latin, especially within Christian contexts, it came to specifically denote the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, forming the basis for terms like "Passion play" and musical compositions known as "Passions." It also carries broader meanings such as affliction, disease, or emotional intensity, and is the root of the English word "passion," which evolved to signify strong emotions, desires, or inclinations.I can’t say with any authority which interpretations are correct, but my suspicion is that AI got these right.
--with apologies
January 4, 2026
A thought-provoking book ! He helps one understand, as we age, how to move from an active life of growing to a more passive life of giving up many aspects of our life and preparing to go to God. It has so much to offer spiritually that one wants to re-read it thoroughly again. So much to consider and ponder.
December 4, 2025
Rolheiser writes another classic as he concludes his series on spiritual discipleship. Loved this one a lot. Just wish it was a little longer and maybe a little less repetitive. Still, it hit home in some very meaningful ways. I’ll be going back to this one for sure!
Rating: 9.25/10, five stars!
Rating: 9.25/10, five stars!
November 7, 2025
I turned 70 in April and I have been very busy studying , praying and trying to figure out the phase of life I now find myself in. Father Rolheiser’s book has helped me on my way.
December 9, 2025
Nice read.
December 21, 2025
A must read for anyone over 54. So much beauty in this book. Eat the meat and spit out the bones.
January 11, 2026
Offers new perspectives and important things to think about.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews