{"id":26351,"date":"2026-01-07T09:33:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T14:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=26351"},"modified":"2026-01-07T10:56:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T15:56:33","slug":"26351","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=26351","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tauren Wells - Known (Official Lyric Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xckDgX8xNfg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Revelation and Transformation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Wednesday, January 7, 2026&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Father Richard Rohr describes the Bible as a source of ongoing revelation and transformation:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This marvelous anthology of books and letters called the Bible is for the sake of divine transformation (<em>theosis<\/em>), not intellectual or \u201csmall-self\u201d coziness or even righteousness. The biblical revelation invites us into a genuinely new experience. Wonderfully enough, <strong>human consciousness in the twenty-first century is, more than ever, ready for such an experience\u2014and also very much in need of it<\/strong>! The trouble is that we have made the Bible into a bunch of ideas\u2014about which we can be right or wrong\u2014<strong>rather than an invitation to&nbsp;<em>a new set of eyes<\/em>.<\/strong> Even worse, many of those ideas are the same old, tired ones, mirroring the reward-and-punishment system of the dominant culture, so that most people don\u2019t even expect anything good or new from the momentous revelation that we call the Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The very word that the four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and the apostle Paul chose to name this new revelation was a strange one<em>.&nbsp;Gospel,<\/em>&nbsp;which we now translate as \u201cgood news,\u201d was actually a word taken from a world dominated by&nbsp;wars and battles. A \u201cgospel\u201d was a returning message of victory, announcing a new era to the winning party. Obviously, <strong>Jesus\u2019s message was seen as something genuinely good and genuinely new. This is still true today\u2014if we are asking the right questions and have a \u201cpoverty of spirit\u201d (Matthew 5:3).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m sure there are times when many of us wish the Bible were some kind of \u201cseven habits for highly effective people.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Just give us the right conclusions<\/em>, we\u2019ve perhaps thought, instead of all these books of kings, Levitical teachings, chronicles of various battles, and those Pauline letters that so many of us don\u2019t like. \u201cWhat does all this monotonous history, out-of-date science, and flat-out violence have to do with anything that matters?\u201d That\u2019s why an awful lot of people give up on the Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the genius of the biblical revelation is that <strong>it doesn\u2019t just give us the conclusions! It gives us both the process of getting there and the inner and outer authority to trust that process.<\/strong> Life itself\u2014and Scripture too\u2014is <strong>always three steps forward and two steps backward. <\/strong>It gets the point and then loses it or doubts it. In that, the biblical text mirrors our own human consciousness and journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We <strong>always need what Jesus described as the beginner\u2019s mind of a curious child<\/strong>. What some call&nbsp;<em>a&nbsp;<\/em><strong><em>constantly renewed immediacy<\/em>&nbsp;is the best path for spiritual wisdom. <\/strong>If our only concerns are for the spiritual status of our group, or our private \u201csocial security\u201d plans, the Scriptures will not be new, nor will they be good, or even attractive. We will proceed on cruise control, even after reading them. They will be \u201creligion\u201d as we have come to expect it in our particular culture, but not any genuine \u201cgood news\u201d with the power to rearrange everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><object class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Feeling-Wheel.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of Feeling-Wheel.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-a2ad1e37-fbaa-4cce-86ab-6dfa621f74e6\" href=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Feeling-Wheel.pdf\">Feeling-Wheel<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Feeling-Wheel.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-a2ad1e37-fbaa-4cce-86ab-6dfa621f74e6\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/mcusercontent.com\/5e843a2b282d46a03df86254c\/images\/65b354d3-f6a6-7654-285e-38efc7d21e43.png\" width=\"310.20000000000005\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Dear friend,<br><br>As we stand at the beginning of a new year, many of us are asking familiar questions\u2014sometimes quietly, sometimes urgently.<br>\u00a0What do I want this year to bring?What needs to change?What should I resolve?<br>Often, our resolutions are attempts to name our thirst. And thirst has a way of clarifying things. When you are utterly parched, the answer to the question \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d does not require much reflection. Thirst narrows our focus. It reminds us of what is essential\u2014of the life-giving water we usually take for granted until we begin to run dry.<br><br>Not surprisingly, this is also the very first question Jesus asks in the Gospel of John.<br><br>When Jesus turns to the disciples of John the Baptist and asks, \u201c<strong>What do you want?<\/strong>\u201d he assumes something important about them\u2014and about us. He assumes that we are people of desire. Of longing. He does not shame this or attempt to correct it. He simply names it. How could we not be people of desire? Jesus himself tells us that if we are to enter the kingdom of heaven, we must become like little children. And children have no lack of wanting.Every baby enters the world hungry and thirsty\u2014for nourishment, yes, but also for comfort and connection. Newborns, infants, and toddlers are unselfconscious bundles of desire. And <strong>this depth of wanting does not fade with age. It only becomes quieter, more hidden, more carefully managed<\/strong>. Desire itself does not disappear until we are dead.<br><br>So the question is not\u00a0<em>whether<\/em>\u00a0we want.<br>The question is\u00a0<em>what<\/em>\u00a0we want.<br><br>But here is something we often miss: no matter what children ask for\u2014milk, a toy, a set of car keys, or the love of their beloved\u2014<strong>the object of their desire is almost always a bid for loving attachment. Beneath the request is a longing to be received, to be responded to with attunement. Even when the answer must be \u201cno,\u201d what matters is that the wanting itself is honored.<\/strong><br><br>As Dan Siegel reminds us, these longings can be named with four simple words.<strong> We want to be seen, soothed, safe, and secure. These four \u201cS\u201d words describe what children\u2014and adult children like us\u2014desire more than anything else: to be known. And to be known in this way is to be loved. Loved with the joy that says, \u201cYou\u2019re here!\u201d every time we enter the room or cross someone else\u2019s mind\u2014even, and especially, on our worst days.<\/strong><br><br>And yet, <strong>most of us are not very skilled at being know<\/strong>n. Which means we are not very skilled at receiving love. This does not mean we are incapable of loving others\u2014though we all have room to grow there. It means that for many reasons, we struggle to let love actually reach us. And <strong>because we cannot give what we have not received, we turn to substitutes.<\/strong><br><br>Busyness.<br>Achievement.<br>Technology.<br>Money.<br>Control.<br>Anxiety.<br><br>These are the familiar stand-ins we have been perfecting since the Garden of Eden. For many of us, our lives have been so full that we barely noticed how much we relied on these things to make up for the emptiness that only love can fill.<br><br>A new year has a way of exposing this. We hope that better habits or clearer goals will finally satisfy us. <strong>But resolutions alone cannot meet the longing to be seen, soothed, safe, and sec<\/strong>ure.<br><br>Which brings us back\u2014again\u2014to Jesus\u2019 question:<br><strong>What do you want?<\/strong>If we are honest, many of our answers are simply translations of a deeper plea. Just as it was when we were toddlers, telling Jesus what we want is another way of telling him how desperately we want to be loved. To be known. Jesus does not force us to say this. <strong>He waits. He waits for us to grow tired of our substitutions, to become honest enough to receive what we cannot manufacture.<\/strong><br><br>Jesus is not impatiently waiting for the right answer before he acts.\u00a0<strong>He is waiting for us to allow him to love us.<\/strong>\u00a0And when we do\u2014something far easier said than done\u2014we discover that the true object of our desire is not a what after all. It is a who.<br><br>So how do we practice receiving the love we long for?<br><br><strong>Here are four straightforward, not-so-easy steps you might carry into this new year:<\/strong><br>\u00a0Twice each week,\u00a0<strong>tell someone you genuinely love that you love them<\/strong>, and give them two concrete reasons why. Take at least ten minutes, and schedule the time.<br>\u00a0Once a week,\u00a0<strong>ask someone you trust to tell you why they love you<\/strong>, offering specific examples. This may feel uncomfortable\u2014and that discomfort is part of the work. Receiving love is a skill we must practice.<br>\u00a0Three times a week,\u00a0<strong>choose a Gospel story in which Jesus demonstrates love<\/strong>. Imagine yourself there. Imagine Jesus including you in the conversation. Write down what he says to you and reflect on it.<br>\u00a0Two to three times a week,\u00a0<strong>meditate on Luke 3:22<\/strong>. Allow yourself to sit in the Father\u2019s presence as he delights in being with you\u2014without striving or earning.<br>As this year unfolds, my hope is not simply that we would become better versions of ourselves, but that we would become people more deeply rooted in love. Because <strong>when we dare to receive that love, we may discover that what we desire\u2014living, breathing, embodied joy\u2014is also what we are becoming.And we will know that it is what we have always wanted.<\/strong><br><br>Warmly,<br>Curt<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Discussion Questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Rohr talks about the Bible as invitation to &#8220;a new set of eyes&#8221; rather than ideas to be right or wrong about. Curt talks about practicing the skill of receiving love. How do these two approaches\u2014seeing differently and receiving differently\u2014relate to each other? Where have you experienced this connection in your own journey?<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Both readings acknowledge our tendency toward substitutes: Rohr mentions our desire for &#8220;seven habits&#8221; conclusions instead of the biblical process, while Curt names busyness, achievement, and control as stand-ins for love. What substitute are you most aware of relying on right now? What would it look like to trade that substitute for the real thing\u2014whether it&#8217;s a new way of seeing Scripture or a new capacity to receive love?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Revelation and Transformation Wednesday, January 7, 2026&nbsp; Father Richard Rohr describes the Bible as a source of ongoing revelation and transformation: This marvelous anthology of books and letters called the Bible is for the sake of divine transformation (theosis), not intellectual or \u201csmall-self\u201d coziness or even righteousness. The biblical revelation invites us into a genuinely [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26351"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26351"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26363,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26351\/revisions\/26363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}