by Donald Goergen

      Review by Mary Ann Flanagan, IHM, PhD

Ever since Elizabeth Johnson’s book, Women, Earth, and Creator Spirit, the 1993 Madeleva Lecture in Spirituality, I have been longing for another book on the Holy Spirit. I am delighted to tell you of an excellent book on this theme. Donald Goergen, OP gives us Fire of Love: Encountering the Holy Spirit.  This book “invites us to recognize the power and ever-expanding presence of the Spirit in our own lives, in the life of the church, in the religious traditions of the word, in our world itself, and in God’s evolving creation.” (book cover)

This is a very readable book, and its beauty is that it offers us a portrait of the Spirit’s presence in the most intimate depths of the self to the most expansive presence within our world and universe. Goergen, a Dominican priest, theologian, teacher and author, offers a multi-faceted perspective on the Spirit: biblical, theological, and historical. You immediately catch his eagerness to link his discussions of Spirit with vital topics of contemporary interest: Spirit presence in Jesus, church, word and sacrament, our world and historical events themselves. It is a perfect read for the integration efforts between the Christian, Universe and Earth Charter stories.

Fire of Love challenges the Christian reader to look deeply within and about. The Spirit’s presence is one that requires attentive discernment. “Spiritual” eyes must be sensitized to recognize the Holy presence that blows where it will. The Holy Spirit is there, deep within the human heart, within the diversity of world religions or within the complex evolutionary process of the universe’s “blazing fire and deep inner energy.” (p.101)

This is a theology book that enriches one’s spiritual life in a variety of ways. Each chapter concludes with a beautiful prayer by the author. Here are a couple of examples of small sections from concluding prayers that are so helpful in uniting the learnings of mind and heart, treasured assets to a new language of prayer!

From The Diversity of Religions

       … Most Holy Spirit, source of unity, source of diversity ( I Cor 12:4, 11, 13),
       Help us appreciate what is distinctive
       About each human person, about each species, about each faith,
       And to recognize what we all have in common,
       That though many, we are one. (p.70)

From The Spirit in an Evolving Universe

       … energizer, evolver, holy breath, blazing fire
       Fill us with your life,
       Re-create us as your people,
       Pour yourself out upon our world, 
       Renew the face of the earth.” (p. 101)