Search results for ""author henri j. m. nouwen""

The real 'work' of prayer is to become silent and listen to the voice that says good things about me.The late Henri Nouwen was one of the twentieth century's greatest spiritual writers, and this book brings together two of his most inspirational pastoral works. Life of the Beloved asks how one can live a spiritual life in a completely secular culture. The greatest challenge, concludes Nouwen, is to bridge the gap between secular and sacred within the human self as a human being beloved of God.Our Greatest Gift is a meditation on dying. Dying and death can often bring fear, but the experience of dying and caring for the dying can become the deepest experience of love. Nouwen encourages us to ask, 'How can my death become fruitful in the lives of others?' Ultimately, it is the greatest gift we have to offer.

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'This invaluable collection of over 200 letters by the late Nouwen (The Wounded Healer), a beloved author, pastor, and priest, provides insight into his personal struggles, insecurities, and faith and offers the heartfelt guidance Nouwen shared so generously with individuals to a wide audience ... The courage and kindness with which Nouwen shares his vulnerabilities and honest feelings, combined with his willingness to provide direction, advice, companionship, and affection, ensure that Nouwen's legacy as inspired spiritual guide will continue, enhanced by this testimony to his sincere desire to live with gratitude, faith, and love.'- Publishers Weekly'When I write I think deeply about my friends, I pray for them, I tell them my emotions and feelings. I reflect on our relationship and I dwell with them in a very personal way.' - Henri Nouwen Over the course of his life, priest, professor and writer Henri Nouwen wrote thousands of letters to friends, acquaintances, parishioners, students and readers of his work all around the world. He held a deep conviction about the value of reaching out to others through letters, believing that a thoughtful letter written in love could truly change someone's life. As a result, many people looked to Nouwen as a long-distance spiritual advisor. This collection of previously unpublished letters stretches from the earliest years of Henri's career through to his last ten years at L'Arche Daybreak. Rich in spiritual insights as well as touching details of Henri's daily life, the letters are organised around themes that emerge not just in his correspondence but in his writing, too: vocation and calling; solitude and prayer; suffering and perseverence; belovedness; and community. Across all these letters, what emerges most clearly is Henri's belief in the rich value of human relationships. As relevant today as they were forty years ago, and full of insight and encouragement, these letters offer a deeply personal look into the mind of a spiritual giant of the twentieth century, and are an ideal introduction to his life and thought.

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In this treasure of a book, Henri Nouwen presents a powerful vision of leadership for now and for the future. As he looks back at his own life, the author reflects upon the challenges and solutions that are faced by today's Christian leaders. Nouwen questions many of the current preconceptions of how to lead, and takes the reader back to lessons of Scripture and the lived example of Jesus. Thought-provoking, stimulating, this is a book for anyone already involved in leadership, and for all those who may be called to it. It will become a source of inspiration and renewal.

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Prior to writing his great classic, The Return of the Prodigal Son, Henri Nouwen suffered an enormous personal loss and breakdown that took him away from his home in the L'Arche Daybreak community for a period of seven months. His thoughts were intense, raw and deeply private, and ultimately revealed to him the passionate drama of parenthood, filial duty, rivalry, anger and unconditional love on display in Rembrandt's painting. On his return from solitude, Henri held small, private workshops on his revelations that were recorded in audio. The material of those extremely personal talks has now been formed into a unique work. Home Tonight brings to light Nouwen's lectures on the Prodigal Son in a powerful guide for spiritual reflection. Providing exercises, suggestions for times of solitude, questions for pondering, simple prayers, and aides for personal journaling, Home Tonight leads readers to commune with God through spiritual listening. A practical guide for the inner journey home, this important book will give those who adore Nouwen's works the chance to hear his voice anew on his most popular topic.

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In The Selfless Way of Christ, Henri Nouwen explores selflessness, vocation, and how downward mobility is a key to the spiritual path. Downward mobility, says Nouwen, is the way of Christ, and we are constantly tempted away from it by the lures of success, of power, of being needed and important. Originally serialised in the magazine Sojourners, Nouwen wrote the articles that comprise this book during his years as a professor at Yale Divinity School. There he enjoyed academic success and found fame as a spiritual writer, but was struggling to find his true vocation. Here he seeks to explain for himself and his readers how choosing the downwardly mobile path can, conversely, be the means of growth and new life in Christ.

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In this Church Times ''Top 100 Best Christian Book'', a chance encounter with a reproduction of Rembrandt's painting, The Return of the Prodigal Son, catapulted Henri Nouwen into a long spiritual adventure. He shares the deeply personal meditation that led him to discover the place within which God has chosen to dwell.In seizing the inspiraton that came to him through Rembrandt's depiction of the powerful Gospel story, Nouwen probes the several movements of the parable: the younger son's return, the father's resoration of sonship, the elder son's vengefulness, and the father's compassion. In his reflection on Rembrandt in light of his own life journey, the author evokes the powerful drama of the parable in a rich, captivating way.The themes of homecoming, affirmation, and reconciliation will be newly discovered by all who have known loneliness, dejection, jealousy, or anger. The challenge to love as the father and be loved as the son is represented with new freshness and vigour for our

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'We are the Beloved. We are intimately loved long before our parents, teachers, spouses, children and friends loved or wounded us. That's the truth of our lives. That's the truth I want you to claim for yourself. That's the truth spoken by the voice that says, "You are my Beloved."' - Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved Henri Nouwen, priest, professor and writer, devoted much of his later ministry to emphasising the singular concept of our identity as the Beloved of God. In an interview, he said that he believed the central moment in Jesus' public ministry to be his baptism in the Jordan, when Jesus heard the affirmation, 'You are my beloved son on whom my favour rests.' 'That is the core experience of Jesus,' Nouwen writes. 'He is reminded in a deep, deep way of who he is ... I think his whole life is continually claiming that identity in the midst of everything.'You Are Beloved is a daily devotional created from the very best of Nouwen's writings, paired with daily Scripture readings, that reveals our identity as children of God, and which encourages us to live out that truth in our daily lives. Nouwen is at once refreshingly accessible, unafraid to wrestle with challenging questions, and above all an encouraging and sympathetic voice along the way.

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The late Henri Nouwen is one of this century's greatest spiritual writers and in one volume are included two of his most inspirational pastoral works. The Life of the Beloved asks how one can live a spiritual life in a completely secular culture. Our Greatest Gift is a meditation on dying and caring for the dying and is a classic essay on death and how to die well. This comes directly out of Nouwen's personal experience of being with the dying and asks 'How can my death become fruitful in the lives of others?'Two classics in one volume by a deep and profound thinker.

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Arnold guides readers toward leading Christ-like lives amid the stress and strain of modern life. Perhaps the hardest thing about following Christ is translating our good intentions into deeds. Christ calls us, and we yearn to answer him, but time and again we lose resolve. Is discipleship really possible today? Many of the selections in this book offer answers to specific needs or problems. Others grapple with broader themes such as world suffering, salvation, and the coming of the kingdom of God. All of them pulsate with conviction and compassion, giving fresh hope to those who find themselves lonely or disheartened in the daily search to follow Christ. J. Heinrich Arnold served for many years as elder of the Bruderhof, a Christian communal movement. Discipleship contains writings, letters, and talks from his forty years of service as pastor, marriage counselor, educator, and parent.

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