Dear Friend,
As I sit here in my 83rd year, I’m delightfully surprised I am still writing to you! God has given me more time and energy than I could ever have hoped for. Lately, I’ve been reflecting—sometimes even dreaming at night—about my time in college, my years intensely studying theology, and how earnest yet ego-driven I was to get ordained and become a priest. But I am immensely grateful for how God has used it all. The more I reflect, the more I think, “God, you were so gracious and patient with me! I didn’t always get it right, but you still used me.” And that is how it is for you and everyone else as well. God uses us in ways that we cannot possibly imagine, and often in spite of ourselves.
Throughout all these years I’ve tried to pass my words through three gates: “Is it true? Is it loving? Is it necessary?” Because we must be sustained by a sense of what we are for, and not just what we are against. The contemplative path isn’t primarily about learning—it’s about living. Through contemplation, we begin to see differently, to love more deeply, and to act with courage. Spreading this message seems to be needed now more than ever, and with your support, that is exactly what we will do.
One of my greatest joys is to continue seeing the ripples of loving action that this CAC community and our Daily Meditations make around the world. Please read the letter below from CAC’s Executive Director Michael Poffenberger who we recently celebrated for his tenth anniversary with CAC. Tomorrow, the Daily Meditations will continue exploring the theme of “Seeing Nature Through New Eyes.”
Peace and Every Good,
Richard Rohr, OFM
Richard Rohr with CAC’s Daily Meditation Team, Mark Longhurst (left) and Ali Kirkpatrick (right).
Dear Friend,
At the CAC, we believe that transformation begins with learning to see and love the world as it is. We are deeply committed to sharing everyday Christian contemplative wisdom and practices that support people on this path of transformation. Being honored to serve at the CAC for over ten years now, I’ve heard incredible stories about the impact of this work. An immense range of people, from mothers to college students and executive leaders to international officials, start their day reading the Daily Meditations and then share them with others, helping create ripples of loving wisdom that spread throughout the world. You are one of the reasons that this is possible, and we wanted to give you a glimpse of what this looks like. This is what a real-time map of readers opening the CAC Daily Meditations resembles on a typical morning:
Each pin represents someone like Jorge from Bavaria, Susan from Louisiana, or Tom from Nuevo Leon, spending time fostering their growth and healing in service to a more loving world. Today, our Daily Meditations reach just under 400,000 people. But what if it reached 500,000, 700,000, or over 1 million people? With your partnership and support, our preparation and expansion plans continue every day. Our goal is not to pursue growth and scale as ends in themselves but to serve a broader, stronger, and more impactful Christian contemplative movement of healing, justice, and renewal. Imagine how many more ripples of love could be part of this community:
The CAC’s work is rooted in a long tradition of Christian contemplation. For centuries, this tradition has carried profound wisdom to a select few who carried it forward inside monasteries and in some theology schools. But now, we seek to offer this tradition in ways that are increasingly accessible, practical, and transformative for people today—so that we might become, together, a healing presence in our world.
If you are able, I invite you to consider joining the Bonaventure Circle of Support, CAC’s growing community of monthly givers. Your consistent support provides the resources, confidence, and stability needed to invest significantly in expanding our team, technology, faculty, and ability to offer more programs “in the gift” so that money is never the primary barrier to access for anyone. With your ongoing support, more people will have access to the transformative power of the contemplative path—many for the very first time.
We thank you for your trust and partnership in this mission and journey.
In loving gratitude,
Michael Poffenberger
Executive Director
Center for Action and Contemplation
P.S. You can donate securely online at cac.org/dm-appeal or send a check (USD only) to CAC, P.O. Box 12464, Albuquerque, NM 87195. Donations are tax-deductible in the United States.
EIN # 85-0354965. We invite donations of any size. Learn more about other ways to give, including gifts of stock, qualified distributions from your IRA, or a gift in your will at cac.org/support. Contact us if you have any questions or want to discuss making a transformational gift. Thank you for your ongoing support!
