Daily Meditation: The Joy of Being Like Others

The Joy of Being Like Others At first sight, joy seems to be connected with being different. When you receive a compliment or win an award, you experience the joy of not being the same as others. You are faster, smarter, more beautiful, and it is that difference that brings you joy. But such joy is very temporary. True joy is hidden where we are the same as other people: fragile and mortal. It is the joy of belonging to the human race. It is the joy of being with others as a friend, a companion, a fellow traveler. This is the joy of Jesus, who is Emmanuel: God-with-us.   For further reflection ... "I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you.  Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name -- the name you gave me -- so that they may be one as we are one.  I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them."  - John 17: 11, 13 (NIV) Comment on this Daily Meditation. Join us this Lent as we reflect on Nouwen's "The Return of the Prodigal Son". Click here for more information.   Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community.     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. Scripture chosen by L. Yeskoo.

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Daily Meditation: Choosing Joy

Choosing Joy Joy is what makes life worth living, but for many joy seems hard to find. They complain that their lives are sorrowful and depressing. What then brings the joy we so much desire? Are some people just lucky, while others have run out of luck? Strange as it may sound, we can choose joy. Two people can be part of the same event, but one may choose to live it quite differently than the other. One may choose to trust that what happened, painful as it may be, holds a promise. The other may choose despair and be destroyed by it. What makes us human is precisely this freedom of choice.   For further reflection ... "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen."  - Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV) Comment on this Daily Meditation. Join us this Lent as we reflect on Nouwen's "The Return of the Prodigal Son". Click here for more information.   Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community.     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. Scripture chosen by L. Yeskoo.

Forward this Daily Meditation to a friend! This email was sent to cbgamb@gmail.com, by email_lists@henrinouwen.org Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. Henri Nouwen Society | PO Box 220522 | St. Louis | MO | 63122 | USA Henri Nouwen Society | 95 St. Joseph Street, Room 214 | Toronto | ON | M5S 2R9 | Canada

Daily Meditation: Healing Our Memories

Healing Our Memories Forgiving does not mean forgetting. When we forgive a person, the memory of the wound might stay with us for a long time, even throughout our lives. Sometimes we carry the memory in our bodies as a visible sign. But forgiveness changes the way we remember. It converts the curse into a blessing. When we forgive our parents for their divorce, our children for their lack of attention, our friends for their unfaithfulness in crisis, our doctors for their ill advice, we no longer have to experience ourselves as the victims of events we had no control over. Forgiveness allows us to claim our own power and not let these events destroy us; it enables them to become events that deepen the wisdom of our hearts. Forgiveness indeed heals memories.   For further reflection ... "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia.  We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.  Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.  But this happened so that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead."  - 2 Corinthians 1: 8-9 (NIV) Comment on this Daily Meditation. Join us this Lent as we reflect on Nouwen's "The Return of the Prodigal Son". Click here for more information.   Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community.     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. Scripture chosen by L. Yeskoo.

Forward this Daily Meditation to a friend! This email was sent to cbgamb@gmail.com, by email_lists@henrinouwen.org Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. Henri Nouwen Society | PO Box 220522 | St. Louis | MO | 63122 | USA Henri Nouwen Society | 95 St. Joseph Street, Room 214 | Toronto | ON | M5S 2R9 | Canada

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Don't miss out! Journey with us this Lent  as we read and reflect on Henri Nouwen's The Return of the Prodigal Son  A Story of Homecoming Book choice changed from Home Tonight to The Return of the Prodigal Son. On Wednesday February 18th, our facilitators, Brynn Lawrence and Ray Glennon will introduce themselves on the blog and invite you to do the same. Brynn and Ray will post reflection questions on the blog each week during Lent in keeping with a reading schedule they will also post on the blog. There is no need to register or sign-in. For more information and to participate, please go to:  http://wp.henrinouwen.org/rgroup_blog/ Please note that we have had to change our initial choice of Home Tonight to The Return of the Prodigal Son. We encourage those who already have Home Tonight to work through that either on your own or in conjunction with The Return of the Prodigal Son; these two books are deeply complementary. Read, reflect, share your thoughts - participate at your own pace and in whatever way is most meaningful for you.   Need a copy of The Return of the Prodigal Son? It is available as a trade paperback, an audio book and an e-book. Click here to purchase in US$ Click here to purchase in CDN$ from Doubleday Canada Click here to purchase in the UK from Darton, Longman & Todd A chance encounter with a reproduction of Rembrandt's Return of the Prodigal Son inspired Henri Nouwen to embark on a long spiritual adventure. Here he shares the deeply personal and resonant meditation that led him to discover the place within where God has chosen to dwell. For all who ask, "Where has my struggle led me?" or for those "on the road" who have had the courage to embark on the  journey but seek the illumination of a known way and safe passage, this work will inspire and guide each time it is read.   Questions? Contact Maureen at admin@henrinouwen.org Photo of Henri Nouwen by K. Dwyer.

Share this invitation This email was sent to cbgamb@gmail.com, by email_lists@henrinouwen.org Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. Henri Nouwen Society | PO Box 220522 | St. Louis | MO | 63122 | USA Henri Nouwen Society | 95 St. Joseph Street, Room 214 | Toronto | ON | M5S 2R9 | Canada