title: Forgotten Among the Lilies: Learning to Love Beyond Our Fears
author:  Ronald Rolheiser 
description: In this book of poignant meditations, theologian Rolheiser pleads an important case of idealism, romanticism, fulfillment and pure love (<i>eros</i>) in an age of skepticism, cynicism and despair. Pulling from a host of spiritual classics, he succeeds at inspiring his readers, translating with impressive acumen the wisdom of theologians like Karl Rahner, poets like Rainer Maria Rilke and contemporary writers like Annie Dillard. He aptly engages readers in deep philosophical questions without losing them in abstract language because he diligently connects his theological ideas to concrete, common experiences. Rolheiser writes about such topics as self-expression, innocence, friendship, forgiveness, prayer, sexuality and social justice with his signature touch of empathy and eloquence. However, in his effort to inspire optimism, he dodges some controversial issues and appears at times to dangerously discount some very real illnesses (e.g. depression, anxiety disorders), which may require psychiatric and physiological treatment beyond his recommended method of "praying it through." Titled appropriately after the last line of St. John of the Cross's poetic masterpiece, "The Dark Night of the Soul," Rolheiser's reflections capture postmodern anxiety and despair; he accurately identifies some alarming trends in contemporary culture, such as the "Friday Night Syndrome"what he calls our society's need for constant excitement. Overall, his words offer readers a perspective of hope and provide spiritual nourishment at its best.<i> (May)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: **Book design by Angela Carlino**
  
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  For my readers, who have shown me so many kinds of love
  
  FALLEN IN LOVE
  
   _The life so brief, the art so long in the learning, the attempt so_ _hard,
  the conquest so sharp, the fearful joy that ever slips away_ _so quickly—by
  all this I mean love, which so sorely astounds my_ _feeling with its wondrous
  operation, that when I think upon it I_ _scarce know whether I wake or sleep._
  
  —Geoffrey Chaucer, _The Parliament of Fowls_ Translated by Gerard NeCastro
  
    
  
  L O V E W H E R E Y O U L E A S T E x P E C T I T
  
  T h e Va l e n t i n e o f S h e l b y a n d M i l e s
  
    
  
  O N E
  
  T W O F O R T H E R O A D
  
  Shelby and Miles were laughing when they stepped out of the Announcer. Its
  dark tendrils clung to the brim of Miles’s blue Dodgers baseball cap and
  Shelby’s tangled ponytail as the two of them emerged.
  
  Even though Shelby’s body felt as weary as i