Wednesday, December 13, 2017

You Are the Beloved by Henri J. M. Nouwen

This collection of 365 meditations by a Catholic priest who died in 1996 has something for everyone. Nouwen’s perspective, heavily influenced by time spent contemplatively in solitude, makes for unique insights. I am not Catholic and so do not share Nouwen’s views on saints and relationships with those who have died, but there was much here to like. Nouwen encourages the reader to embrace experiences usually thought of as “negative”, such as loneliness, pain, and death. Here are a couple of my favorite selections: From February 25, “There is a false form of honesty that suggests that nothing should remain hidden and that everything should be said, expressed, and communicated. This honesty can be very harmful, and if it does not harm, it at least makes the relationship flat, superficial, empty, and often very boring. When we try to shake off our loneliness by creating a milieu without limiting boundaries, we may become entangled in a stagnating closeness. It is our vocation to prevent the harmful exposure of our inner sanctuary, not only for our own protection but also as a service to our fellow human beings with whom we want to enter in a creative communion. Just as words lose their power when they are not born out of silence, so openness loses its meaning when there is no ability to be closed.” From October 9: “You have been wounded in many ways. The more you open yourself to being healed, the more you will discover how deep your wounds are. . . . The great challenge is living your wounds through instead of thinking them through. It is better to cry than to worry, better to feel your wounds deeply than to understand them, better to let them enter into your silence than to talk about them. The choice you face constantly is whether you are taking your hurts to your head or to your heart. In your head you can analyze them, find their causes and consequences, and coin words to speak and write about them. But no final healing is likely come from that source. you need to let your wounds go down to your heart. Then you can live through them and discover that they will not destroy you. Your heart is greater than your wounds.” I highly recommend this book, as it will help you think about the way you think. I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

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