Guest SteveG Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 The following was given to me by Jane, a Hospice of the Valley Volunteer with this brief note:"I am attaching the beautiful and moving piece my friend, Nina, sent me when she was dying of cancer and I was frantically trying to 'fix' her!"Excerpted from Out of Solitude by Henri Nouwen:When we honestly ask ourselves which persons in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving much advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not-knowing, not-curing, not-healing, and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is the friend who cares.Who was Henri Nouwen?Henri J.M. Nouwen was born in 1932, and ordained into the priesthood in 1957. He pursued an academic career, specializing in psychology from 1964 to 1982, with positions at the Menninger Clinic, Notre Dame, the University of Nijmegen, Harvard, and Yale. Nouwen next spent time as a missionary to the poor in war and poverty-torn areas of Latin America, including Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Honduras. In his last years of life, he was a pastor at L'Arche Daybreak, a community for handicapped adults in Canada.When Fr. Henri Nouwen died suddenly in 1996, he was one of the most well-known religious figures in the United States. He had written almost forty books on spirituality. In all his writing, Fr. Nouwen spoke of one central truth, that each person is the beloved of God. But Nouwen's real gift was to write in such a beautiful and simple way about how easy it is to lose touch with our belovedness.This might be something you may want to give to friends and family who want to so much to fix you.Best,Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts