Conversation w/ Ronald Rolheiser: Restlessness, Leaving a Legacy, Dealing With Anger + the Power of Fidelity
The Intentional Parents Podcast
Intentional
4.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 21 January 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Brook and Justin sit down with Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, one of the most trusted and influential spiritual voices of our time, and someone whose work we deeply admire and return to often. A Catholic priest, theologian, and author, Fr. Rolheiser has spent more than 50 years teaching and writing about prayer, vocation, and the interior life, helping countless people understand how God meets us in ordinary, everyday faithfulness.
Now 78 and a cancer survivor of more than a decade, Fr. Rolheiser reflects on this current stage of life and what it means to finish well. Drawing from his framework of getting your life together, giving your life away, and giving your death away, he shares wisdom shaped by experience, suffering, and surrender, reminding us that the way we die is the spirit we leave behind.
Much of the conversation centers on restlessness, particularly in midlife. Fr. Rolheiser explains that our restlessness is not something to eliminate but a sign that we are “built too big for this world.” Rather than escaping it, he invites us to listen for what God may be teaching us through it, especially as parents learning to integrate spiritual life with ordinary responsibilities.
We also explore ideas from his book, Domestic Monastery, where daily obligations — alarm clocks, mortgages, and kids’ schedules — become monastic bells calling us to faithfulness. Parents, he says, don’t raise kids; kids raise parents. The episode closes with reflections on surrender without passivity, responsibility without control, righteous anger, and the quiet power of fidelity. His final encouragement is simple and enduring: stay with your commitments, just show up for prayer, and trust that God is at work in your staying.
Ronald Rolheiser: Website + Books (New Book: Insane for the Light: A Spirituality for Our Wisdom Years)
Scripture Mentioned: John 21:15-19, Mark 15:37 + John 4:21
Books Mentioned: Domestic Monastery by Ronald Rolheiser, Sacred Fire by Ronald Rolheiser, Finding God at Home by Ernest Boyer Jr. + Naming the Whirlwind by Langdon Gilkey
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Attention mothers. We have the intentional motherhood retreat in Franklin, Tennessee in April, April 23rd, through the 25th to be exact. And if you haven't gotten tickets yet, we want to remind you, grab some tickets. We have group rates. We also have volunteer tickets. So if you're looking for a discounted ticket and want to come help a little bit, go to our website, Intentionalparents.org, get your tickets. Megan Fait Marshman's going to be there. Correta Eskridge is going to be there. Elizabeth and Diana sharing and other guests that you don't even know about. Plus, incredible worship. Can't wait to have you all there. And also, for the fathers, we have our first ever intentional fatherhood retreat in Costa Mesa, February 19 through 21. So, you have not gotten your tickets for that, we also have group rates. |
| 0:39.8 | We also have volunteer tickets. |
| 0:41.4 | All you need to do is go to intentional fatherhood.org, grab your tickets. |
| 0:44.6 | Can't wait to see you all in Costa Mesa or Nashville. |
| 0:47.9 | See you soon. |
| 0:53.0 | You're listening to the Intentional Parents podcast brought to you by Intentional. |
| 0:58.1 | Intentional is all about spiritual formation in the family. |
| 1:02.0 | We desire to bring biblical hope and practical hope. |
| 1:05.4 | Enjoy this week's conversation. |
| 1:15.7 | All right, today is a bucket list interview. |
| 1:21.6 | Recently, myself and Justin Whitmell Early sat down and had a conversation with Ronald Rolheiser. |
| 1:22.6 | Now, if you know anything about my life or Justin's life, you know that this man has impacted |
| 1:26.9 | both of us in a deep way. |
| 1:29.1 | And what you're going to hear today is an interview between myself, Justin, and Ronald Rollheiser. |
| 1:33.6 | We sat down and had an incredibly deep and beautiful conversation that we released on our |
| 1:38.2 | Intentional Fatherhood podcast this week. And it was such a good conversation. We decided we have |
| 1:43.0 | got to release it here on the Intentional Parents podcast because it was just that good. And it was such a good conversation. We decided we have got to release it here on the |
| 1:45.0 | Intentional Parents podcast because it was just that good. And this is your reminder that we actually |
| 1:49.0 | do have an intentional fatherhood podcast. You can listen to that wherever you like to listen to your |
| 1:53.8 | podcast. But today, our conversation was rich. It was deep. If you know anything about Ronald |
| 1:59.1 | Breulheiser, he he shaped so much of my life |
| 2:00.9 | and thinking, and Justin's as well. And even sewing a hidden seed actually came from a quote from him |
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