John Stanko: Henri Nouwen

I Sort of Met Another Man On a Plane

Must Read

If you haven't ever read a book by Henri Nouwen, I consider you spiritually malnourished! Nouwen's books always give me a spiritual jolt and cause me to reflect, think and pray. Whenever a book can produce those results in anyone's life, I consider that book to be a "must read." I would say that almost any of Nouwen's books are a "must read" but especially The Wounded Healer and Return of the Prodigal Son.

Nouwen passed away in 1996, but his books live on. What's more, two of his students have now written a book that includes Nouwen's lessons to them while Nouwen served as their spiritual adviser. This book's title is Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith. Every one of the chapters in this book is a question and include titles like: Who Will Answer My Questions?, Who Am I?, Who is God to Me?, How Do I Hear the Word? and How Can I Be of Service?

I could include 100 quotes from the book in this post, but I want to give you one from the chapter on community and forgiveness, Where Do I Belong? In that chapter, Nouwen (or his students) wrote:

Any relationship you enter into--in communion, frienship, marriage, community, or church--will always be riddled with frustration and disappointment. So forgiveness becomes the word for divine love in the human context. . . .

As people who have hearts that long for perfect love, we have to forgive one another for not being able to give or receive that perfect love in our everyday lives. Our many needs constantly interfere with our desire to be there for the other unconditionally. Our love is always limited by spoken or unspoken conditions. What needs to be forgiven? We need to forgive one another for not being God!

Spiritual Direction is filled with nuggets and insights like the one I quoted, making it a book I highly recommend. Just click on the title above to order your copy today. If you're like me, you'll find it an easy read, but one that you will want to re-read again and again.

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