A good friend recently shared with me a story about Yogananda, the first Yoga master from India to teach in the West. He was nearing the end of his life, but had postponed his death until his final disciple arrived to meet with him. The interesting part of the story was that it was a disciple he had not yet met. My friend shared that story with me in the context of the passing of our mutually shared spiritual teacher, Ron Roth.
Ron was an amazing man, a gifted spiritual healer, a wonderful teacher. He was a former Roman Catholic priest that left the priesthood in the early 1990s to devote himself to an interfaith healing and teaching ministry. He was an adamant believer that there was only one religion, the religion of love. Rather than attempt to convert people to a particular spiritual path, he invited them to go deeper into their own religious traditions. He sought to bring people together instead of dividing them.
Ron taught that at the heart of each religious and spiritual tradition was the celebration of the Presence, the Deep Mystery of Life, by whatever name we identified it: the Father, the Mother, God, etc. One of his favorite practices was chanting the various names of God from the various spiritual traditions. On Ron's altar, one could find images of various spiritual teachers from Jesus and the Blessed Mother Mary to Shirdi Sai Baba and Ramakrishna.
In the context of Ron's worship services, people were literally healed. Ron said he did not heal, it was God that was the True Healer. Ron's work was to gift people to claim their own healing through their connection to the Sacred. He created a community without walls inviting people of different faiths to come together in the Spirit of Oneness to love God, love themselves, and love others. Towards the end of his life, Ron was recognized by a Indian guru, a recognized Avatar (incarnation of the Divine) to be himself an "Avatar of Causeless Love."
I met Ron prior to the debilitating stroke that left him for the remainder of his life unable to walk and with limited speech. I was led to meet him after reading one of his books. His last public teaching was a small weekend gathering of approximately 50 people in Chicago. That weekend changed my life. Ron set me further on path that led me into prayer, meditation and spiritual healing.
Even in his disabled state, he taught me so much more than I would have discovered on my own. I am the better because of him. Our bond was primarily energetic and spiritual, but no less real. I may have been his last student while he was in the body. I don't know if he was waiting for me, but I was waiting for him. I loved him. And, I miss him dearly.
Ron always said that after his death, he would make more noise on other side. Like St. Padre Pio and St. Teresa of Liseaux, he promised that if we asked for his help, he would provide it. I am not quite sure what I am going to do without the physical presence of a man that was like a spiritual uncle to me. He was funny, insightful, practical, down to earth, and someone with whom I could relate. Ron still has work to do. I do as well. I am one of many that will keep his teachings and spirit available to those that will benefit from them.
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