Month: November 2016

Reading: Letters from Dec. 29, 1973 to Don and Claude (page 7) through Feb. 26, 1982 to Jim and Cindy (page 60)

A very warm welcome to our first week of discussion.  Thank you to all who took the time to introduce yourself last week, and we also gratefully acknowledge those who are following along silently.  We are excited to finally dive into the letters this week.

1. As mentioned in the Preface, in many ways these letters represent Henri’s invitation to all of us, to move from the house of fear to the house of love by living a spiritual life, praying at all times, and thus breathing God’s breath.
a) As you consider your daily experience in life, in what ways do you find yourself living in the house of fear?
b) As you read over the letters Henri wrote, what specific words or instructions stand out to you to help you make the journey into the house of God’s love?

2. In the letter written to “George” on August 11, 1981 (page 45) Henri responds to a question about our whether our world will survive the present difficult times.  Henri re-frames the question and instead asks “if we can continue to live with hope?” regardless of the circumstances of our world.  He suggests the answer is affirmative because “our Lord has given us his promise.”  He then challenges us to avoid the temptation to despair by deepening our awareness of God.
a) How do you see these words of Henri applying to our world 35 years later?
b) How do you deepen your awareness of God and avoid despair?

3. In the letter written to “Mike and Pat” on October 6, 1981 (p51) Henri wrote of the centrality of the sacramental presence of Jesus in the Eucharist to his life as a Catholic.
a) Based on this letter, what do you understand Henri to mean when he says “the Christ life [is] something radically different form a life inspired by the ideas and stories about Jesus.”
b) Regardless of denomination / background – how can each of us live a “Christ life” day by day?

4. Generally speaking, these letters reflect the way Henri cared for people around him, often by sharing from the heart his own experiences. 
a) In this set of letters, does anything inspire you or stand out to you about the way that Henri cares for others, and responds to their life experiences?

As is always the case, please feel free to reflect on whatever stands out to you from the reading.  These questions are only meant to provide us a starting point to the discussion.

Looking forward to hearing from each of you,

Ray and Brynn

Reading:  “Love, Henri” – Preface, Foreword and Note from the Editor

Dear Reader,

I hope and pray that the Lord will deepen our faith during these weeks of Advent and will fill us with a peace and joy which belong to his kingdom.  Hope is not optimism and I pray that we all will be able to live hopefully in the midst of our apocalyptic time.  We have a promise and God is faithful to His promise even when we are doubtful and fearful.  As Paul says: ‘Our hope is not deceptive because the Holy Spirit has already been poured into us.’ I wish you … a very blessed Christmas.  Keep me in your prayers.  I pray for you. 

Henri
December 1980
(p44)

The warmest of welcomes to you!  We are so glad you’ve decided to join the group as we journey through Advent together.  If this is your first time joining an online book discussion you may be wondering how it all works.  We’ll get into the details in a minute, but for now rest assured you will have a wonderful opportunity to learn, connect and grow during this time.  Most importantly, Henri never fails to remind us to turn our eyes upon Jesus.  Which is what we hope to do together as we prepare to celebrate His birth this Christmas.

We have chosen the book Love, Henri – Letters on the Spiritual Life for our discussion this Advent.  It is a recently published collection of letters written by Henri Nouwen to close friends, colleagues and even strangers.  In some ways this book is dramatically different then a book written by Henri on a particular topic.  For one thing, it is much longer and, for that reason, we will read and discuss the first half of the book during our Advent journey and the remainder in a future discussion.  More importantly, similar to his books, through these letters Henri both models for us, and specifically instructs us on how to draw deeper into the heart of Jesus.

We have selected a set of letters for each of the three main weeks in Advent (see reading schedule).  Each Sunday you will discover a new “post,” indicated by the bold title, on the blog’s Home page. This post will have discussion questions based around the week’s letters.  It works best if you always add any new comment to the newest post, even if you are referring to an earlier post. That way, everyone will see your comment. After you submit a comment, either Will, Ray or Brynn need to “approve” it, so it may take a few hours before it actually appears on the blog page.  The instructions on how to submit and reply to comments are also included at the bottom of the reading schedule.  If you have any further questions about how the blog works, please feel free to ask.

Over the next few days we invite you to take a few minutes to introduce yourself.  You may choose to share:
a) Your general geographic location
b) To whom or what you dedicate your days or energy, and why
c) How you came to “know/read” Henri Nouwen and whether or not you’ve participated in a previous discussion
d) Insights you gained in reading the Preface, Forward, and Editor’s note
e) What you hope to experience during this Advent discussion

We very much look forward to hearing from each of you!

Be sure to check back here on the Home page on November 27th!

In gratitude,

Ray and Brynn

RAY GLENNON: Ray volunteers in his parish Confirmation program and other ministries. He and his wife are members of a Catholic charismatic community. Ray came to know and trust Henri’s written word in a special way in 2004 when he found The Return of the Prodigal Son for sale after Mass at the cathedral in Singapore at an important point in his life.  If you have any questions for Ray, please contact him at ray.glennon@1972.usna.com and you can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/@RayGlennon.

BRYNN LAWRENCE: Brynn has been helping to preserve Henri’s Legacy for the last several years, mainly through her role as project coordinator of the Nouwen Archive Letter Project, and also by co-facilitating many of our online book discussions. Brynn is  the founder of Abundant Life Coaching. If you have any questions for Brynn, please feel free to contact her through her website.