Managing Monday with Henri Nouwen

Posted by on Oct 10, 2016 in Blog | 2 comments

Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) was a Dutch born Roman Catholic priest, academic, author and theologian. Nouwen reached the top of the academic ladder with posts at Notre Dame, Yale and Harvard, but made the surprising (though liberating) decision to leave academia and to work with physically and mentally handicapped people at the L’Arche Daybreak community in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

He introduced the concept of The Wounded Healer with his book of that title, and some of his other significant works (which have been published in more than 30 different languages) include In the Name of Jesus, The Life of the Beloved and perhaps his most popular book The Return of the Prodigal Son – which is based on his contemplation of Rembrandt’s painting with that name.

We will focus on some of Nouwen’s insights over the next few Mondays…

  • Much violence is based on the illusion that life is a property to be defended and not to be shared – Henri Nouwen
  • We seldom realise fully that we are sent to fulfil God-given tasks. We act as if we have to choose how, where, and with whom to live. We act as if we were simply plopped down in creation and have to decide how to entertain ourselves until we die. But we were sent into the world by God, just as Jesus was. Once we start living our lives with that conviction, we will soon know what we were sent to do – Henri Nouwen
  • The story of Jesus is to be proclaimed and celebrated. Some will hear and rejoice, some will remain indifferent, some will become hostile. The story of Jesus will not always be accepted, but it must be told – Henri Nouwen

As always, nice chatting…

2 Comments

  1. Thanks, Brian. Each of these deserve meditation.

    I should have read more of Henri Nouwen.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.