Sunday, August 31, 2014

Daily Meditation: A Choice Calling for Discipline

Henri Nouwen Society - Daily Meditation
Sunday August 31, 2014

A Choice Calling for Discipline

When we look critically at the many thoughts and feelings that fill our minds and hearts, we may come to the horrifying discovery that we often choose death instead of life, curse instead of blessing.  Jealousy, envy, anger, resentment, greed, lust, vindictiveness, revenge, hatred ... they all float in that large reservoir of our inner life.  Often we take them for granted and allow them to be there and do their destructive work.

But God asks us to choose life and to choose blessing.  This choice requires an immense inner discipline.  It requires a great attentiveness to the death-forces within us and a great commitment to let the forces of life come to dominate our thoughts and feelings.  We cannot always do this alone; often we need a caring guide or a loving community to support us.   But it is important that we both make the inner effort and seek the support we need from others to help us choose life.

- Henri J. M. Nouwen  
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Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.
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Saturday, August 30, 2014

Daily Meditation: Choosing Life

Henri Nouwen Society - Daily Meditation
Saturday August 30, 2014

Choosing Life

God says, "I am offering you life or death, blessing or curse.  Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live"   (Deuteronomy 30:19).

"Choose life."  That's God's call for us, and there is not a moment in which we do not have to make that choice.  Life and death are always before us.  In our imaginations, our thoughts, our words, our gestures, our actions ... even in our nonactions.  This choice for life starts in a deep interior place.  Underneath very life-affirming behaviour I can still harbour death-thoughts and death-feelings.  The most important question is not "Do I kill?" but "Do I carry a blessing in my heart or a curse?"   The bullet that kills is only the final instrument of the hatred that began being nurtured in the heart long before the gun was picked up.

- Henri J. M. Nouwen  
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Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.
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Henri Nouwen Society | PO Box 220522 | St. Louis | MO | 63122 | USA
Henri Nouwen Society | John M. Kelly Library, 3rd Fl. | 113 St. Joseph Street | Toronto | ON | M5S 1J4 | Canada

Friday, August 29, 2014

Daily Meditation: The Companionship of the Dead

Henri Nouwen Society - Daily Meditation
Friday August 29, 2014

The Companionship of the Dead

As we grow older we have more and more people to remember, people who have died before us.  It is very important to remember those who have loved us and those we have loved.  Remembering them means letting their spirits inspire us in our daily lives.  They can become part of our spiritual communities and gently help us as we make decisions on our journeys.   Parents, spouses, children, and friends can become true spiritual companions after they have died.  Sometimes they can become even more intimate to us after death than when they were with us in life.

Remembering the dead is choosing their ongoing companionship.

- Henri J. M. Nouwen  
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Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.
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Henri Nouwen Society | PO Box 220522 | St. Louis | MO | 63122 | USA
Henri Nouwen Society | John M. Kelly Library, 3rd Fl. | 113 St. Joseph Street | Toronto | ON | M5S 1J4 | Canada

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Daily Meditation: A Grateful Death

Henri Nouwen Society - Daily Meditation
Thursday August 28, 2014

A Grateful Death

When we think about death,  we often think about what will happen to us after we have died.  But it is more important to think about what will happen to those we leave behind.   The way we die has a deep and lasting effect on those who stay alive.  It will be easier for our family and friends to remember us with joy and peace if we have said a grateful good-bye than if we die with bitter and disillusioned hearts.

The greatest gift we can offer our families and friends is the gift of gratitude.  Gratitude sets them free to continue their lives without bitterness or self-recrimination.

- Henri J. M. Nouwen  
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Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.
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Henri Nouwen Society | PO Box 220522 | St. Louis | MO | 63122 | USA
Henri Nouwen Society | John M. Kelly Library, 3rd Fl. | 113 St. Joseph Street | Toronto | ON | M5S 1J4 | Canada