Month: March 2023

Reading: “Face the Enemy” to “Keep Choosing God” (pages 93 to 115)

Your vocation is to be a witness to God’s love in this world. (p. 93)

A desire for communion has been part of you since you were born. . . .
It comes from God and is part of your true vocation. (p.95)

Not being welcome is your greatest fear. . . .Everything Jesus is saying to you can be summarized in the words “Know that you are welcome.” (p. 101)

The question is whether you choose for God or for your own doubting self. . . . But you always have a choice to think, speak, and act in the name of God
and so move toward the Light, the Truth, and the Life. (p. 144)

As we enter the penultimate week of our Lenten discussion, I want to thank everyone that has participated by posting comments or following silently. This has been the largest and richest book discussion that we have had in several years. The active participation of the faithful community that gathers each Lent and Advent is the lifeblood of these Henri Nouwen Society book discussions. Without your ongoing engagement there would be no reason for these discussions to exist. I am deeply moved by the thoughtful and compassionate comments that are being shared. I also want to recognize in a special way the people that joined the online conversation this week by sharing their comments for the first time. We’re glad you’re here.

This week, the Fifth Week of Lent, we are reading and discussing the final twelve of the sixty-two imperatives. More about that in a minute. During Holy Week we will consider Henri’s conclusion and have an opportunity to look back across the entire book. Also during Holy Week we are rescheduling our planned Zoom virtual meeting to Tuesday, April 4th at 8:00 p.m. EDT (UTC-4). At that time our Lenten community can gather to share our impressions and insights on the Inner Voice of Love. The Zoom meeting will be available to anyone that indicates their interest in participating by submitting a comment indicating your interest or contacting me by email at ray.glennon@1972.usna.com. There will be a reminder and additional information about the Zoom discussion in the Holy Week blog post on Palm Sunday.

Most of Henri’s imperatives this week focus on his calling, concerns, and fears as he and his counselors prepared for his return to daily life to live and minister in the L’Arche Daybreak community and to continue his ministry to the wider world through his speaking and writing. In the first two excerpts above, we see Henri clearly stating his vocation in the simplest of terms and recognizing that his vocation must be lived in communion with God and with others, especially his L’Arche community from which he will be sent out to the wider world and to which he can return. The next two excerpts address the Henri’s foundational fears that underlie his self-doubts, uncertainty, and insecurity. How do we know that we are welcome? How do we choose for God? We do so by knowing in our heart that we are God’s beloved.

As you reflect on the imperatives this week, you are encouraged to consider them from the perspective of your return to daily life at the end of our Lenten journey next week. As Henri was looking ahead, he was defining guidelines for how he can choose to live his newly acknowledged life as God’s beloved. It seemed to me that Henri wrote these final imperatives to assist him in living out the preceding fifty imperatives. Did any of Henri’s final twelve imperatives or guidelines resonate with you? What concrete steps might you take to put one or more of these guidelines in place in your life? Please share your thoughts to extent you are comfortable. Of course, you are always invited and welcomed to share whatever touched your heart in the reading.

May the Lord strengthen you and give you peace as we continue our journey together. We look forward to another spirit-filled and fruitful week of sharing.

Ray

Reading: The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom
“Accept Your Identity as a Child of God” to “Claim the Victory” (pages 70 to 92)

Your true identity is as a child of God. . . You belong to God and it is
as a child of God that you are sent into the world. (p.70)

The more you come to know yourself—spirit, mind, and body—as truly
loved, the freer you will be to proclaim the good news.
This is the freedom of the children of God. (p.75)

The more you can feel safe as a child of God, the freer you will be to claim
your mission in the world as responsible human being. (p. 78-9)

Thank you, once again, to everyone that is sharing our Lenten journey—both those posting comments and those following along in silence. Before we get to this weeks’ spiritual imperatives, I’d like to address two comments from our discussion last week.

First, one participant asked if the drop off from the number of comments posted during the Welcome and Introduction and the First Week of Lent to the number of comments posted in later weeks was typical and why that drop off may occur. Based on my experience, I can say with certainty that this pattern is typical. Why does it occur? We really don’t know. In some cases, it may be that people introduce themselves with the best of intentions of participating and like other Lenten promises (including mine!), people sometimes don’t follow through. In other cases, as was noted in another comment last week, there are people that choose to follow the discussion but are not comfortable posting comments—and that’s perfectly fine too. Everyone is welcome. As a long-term participant and now moderator, let me offer a third possibility. During every discussion, including this one, we are blessed by people who post insightful, beautifully written, and deeply moving comments based on their personal experience. Our discussion is greatly enhanced by such comments and I know they lead all of us to reflect more deeply on Henri’s writing. Keep those comments coming! As moderator, I know that I am humbled when reading those comments, so much so that I sometimes question the value of my own posts each Sunday and my comments during the week. I would guess that there may be other participants that ask themselves whether their thoughts and comments are worth sharing (perhaps in comparison to the comments of others). Since you are still with us as we enter our fourth week and have been pondering Henri’s imperatives, I think you know how Henri would respond to that concern. He would encourage each and every person to share what you feel called to share from your heart—and to never feel obliged to share if you are not comfortable. Everyone gathered here is a member of a loving community, seeking to gain wisdom from the words of Henri Nouwen—any and all contributions to our discussion will be gratefully and respectfully received.

Second, and more briefly, there was interest expressed in having an optional Zoom virtual gathering to complement the traditional online book discussion. We are planning to schedule a virtual gathering during Holy Week on either Monday, April 3rd or Tuesday, April 4th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. If you would be interested in participating, please submit a comment, including your preferred day. Further information about the Zoom discussion will be provided in future posts. Based on the interest and group feedback, we may consider adding a Zoom virtual gathering component during future discussions.

Now, let’s turn to the reading for this week. Although these spiritual imperatives were all written during the seven months from December 1987 to June 1988, they were not necessarily written in the order shown in our book. In other collections of brief pieces written over time, Henri would group similar ideas and themes together. Last week Henri emphasized the importance of community. This week Henri implores himself, and us, to accept our identify as a child of God that is truly loved. It is that sure knowledge that allows us to be a friend, trust our friends, and avoid self-rejection as we take up our cross and claim the victory won by Jesus—knowing that we are encompassed by the love of God. The quotes at the top of this post show how Henri’s painful growth during his time of extreme anguish moved him toward his central spiritual insight that we are the beloved.

Several years later (in 1992), Henri’s sermon to the congregation at the Crystal Cathedral included this exhortation: “Dear friends, if there is anything, anything I want you to hear this morning, it’s that what is said of Jesus is said of you. You have to hear that you are the beloved daughter and son of God. And to hear it not here (points to head) but right here (points to heart), and to hear it so your whole life can be turned around.”

As always, you are encouraged to share whatever touched your heart in the readings. You might choose to reflect on whether you accept your identify as a child of God and experience yourself as the beloved daughter or son of God. If so, why? If not, why not? And in either case, how does the concept that we are a child of God—the beloved daughter or son of God—affect your life? Of course, you are also invited to continue to use the process we have suggested in previous weeks to ponder and comment on one or more imperatives.

We look forward to hearing from many of you, those that have been commenting regularly and others that feel called and are willing to share your insights with our Lenten community. We are blessed by your participation.

I’m confident we will have another fruitful and spirit-filled week.
Ray

Reading: The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom
“Remain Anchored in Your Community” to “Claim Your Unique Presence in Your Community” (pages 45 to 69)

True love between two human beings puts you more in touch with your
deepest self. It is a love in God . . . . God’s love is all the love you need,
and it reveals the love of God in the other. So the God in you
can speak to the God in the other. This is deep speaking
to deep, a mutuality in the heart of God,
who embraces both of you. (p.64)

On behalf of our Lenten community, I want to express our gratitude for another week of thoughtful, meaningful, and inspiring comments on Henri’s spiritual imperatives. I know that the thoughts posted here prompt me to go deeper in my own reflections. It is also a blessing to see our virtual Lenten community continue to grow closer together.

We are midway through our Lenten journey and this week we are reading and reflecting on the middle 12 of Henri’s 62 spiritual imperatives. My heart was draw to the quotation above taken from “Let Deep Speak to Deep.” Henri describes the profound reality that the (Spirit of) God present in me can speak to (or encounter) the (Spirit of) God present in another. For me, this is a key to understanding God, ourselves, and our relationship to others. As we read in Scripture, “God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16). In our polarized world, unfortunately including the church, a necessary, and at times difficult, first step for me is to allow the God that is in me to see the God that is in the other. For if I do not recognize another person as my brother or sister, I will not hear and be open to what is said when deep speaks to deep. This is an area where I know I struggle and it is a cause of loneliness for me, another key theme throughout our Lenten discussion. Which of Henri’s imperatives are touching your heart this week?

As we have been doing, during this Third Week of Lent you are encouraged to read and to reflect on the this weeks’ spiritual imperatives and share whatever touches your heart, issues arise, or insights you gain in the readings. This group is here to listen, encourage and support each other. Once again, here is a possible process you might consider.

1. Briefly look over the twelve imperatives assigned to this week (pages 45 to 69), either by simply reading the title or by lightly skimming the text.  Don’t feel you need to closely read them all.  Remember Henri’s advice on p xxi…too much salt can spoil a meal!
2. Select a few (perhaps 3 or 4) imperatives that stand out to you, and read them thoroughly, perhaps several times.
3. Consider:
   1. The thought or concept that stands out to you
   2. How does it relates to your personal experience?  Look at your experience with the benefit of Henri’s insight. Does that help you to see things differently or to know yourself better?
   3. What is God speaking to your heart in this imperative? Has God touched your heart in other ways about this thought or concept (e.g., Scripture, spiritual reading, through another person)?
   4. How you will respond?  Carefully (prayerfully) consider how your heart responds to the insights gained during your reflection. Are there small steps you can take to incorporate these insights and to move toward spiritual freedom in your life? Perhaps you would like to write your own Spiritual Imperative.
   5. Pray!
4. Please share with the group to the extent you are comfortable. You might consider sharing on a single imperative per comment. If you have a second or third imperative that was meaningful to you, submit separate comments for each. As always you are invited to continue building our community by responding to what others have shared.

As always, you are encouraged to share whatever touched your heart during the week while reading Henri’s spiritual imperatives and the comments of others. I’m confident that our rich and spirit-filled discussion will blossom and be fruitful as we continue our Lenten journey together. Once again, thank you to all that have joined us. You bless us by your presence.

Peace and all good.
Ray