Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Nouwen Meditation: A Prayer

In this week's episode of Henri Nouwen, Now & Then, New York Times best-selling author Brian D. McLaren makes the bold proposition in his latest book Faith After Doubt, that only doubt can save the world. And your faith.

DAILY MEDITATION | JUNE 30, 2021
A Prayer
O Lord, who else or what else can I desire but you? You are my Lord, Lord of my heart, mind, and soul. You know me through and through. In and through you everything that is finds its origin and goal. You embrace all that exists and care for it with divine love and compassion. Why, then, do I keep expecting happiness and satisfaction outside of you? Why do I keep relating to you as one of my many relationships, instead of my only relationship, in which all other ones are grounded? Why do I keep looking for popularity, respect from others, success, acclaim, and sensual pleasures? Why, Lord, is it so hard for me to make you the only one? Why do I keep hesitating to surrender myself totally to you?

Help me, O Lord, to let my old self die, to let me die to the thousand big and small ways in which I am still building up my false self and trying to cling to my false desires. Let me be reborn in you and see through you the world in the right way, so that all my actions, words, and thoughts can become a hymn of praise to you.

I need your loving grace to travel on this hard road that leads to the death of my old self to a new life in and for you. I know and trust that this is the road to freedom.

Lord, dispel my mistrust and help me become a trusting friend.

Amen.
"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground."

PSALM 143: 8,10 (NIV)
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Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Nouwen Meditation: You Are a Recipient of Light

In this week's episode of Henri Nouwen, Now & Then, New York Times best-selling author Brian D. McLaren makes the bold proposition in his latest book Faith After Doubt, that only doubt can save the world. And your faith.

DAILY MEDITATION | JUNE 29, 2021
You Are a Recipient of Light
It is indeed the task of everyone who cares to prevent people— young, middle-aged, and old—from clinging to false expectations and from building their lives on false suppositions. If it is true that people age the way they live, our first task is to help people discover their lifestyles in which “being” is not identified with “having,” self-esteem does not depend on success, and goodness is not the same as popularity. Care for the aging means a persistent refusal to attach any kind of ultimate significance to grades, degrees, positions, promotions, or rewards and the courageous effort to keep men and women in contact with their inner self, where they can experience their own solitude and silence as potential recipients of light. When one has not discovered and experienced the light that is love, peace, forgiveness, gentleness, kindness, and deep joy in the early years, how can one expect to recognize it in old age? As the book of Sirach says: “If you have gathered nothing in your youth, how can you find anything in your old age?” (Sirach 25:3–4). That is true not only of money and material goods, but also of peace and purity of heart.
"You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings... for I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

2 TIMOTHY 3:10; 4:6,7 (NIV)
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Monday, June 28, 2021

Nouwen Meditation: Getting Comfortable with our Own Aging

In this week's episode of Henri Nouwen, Now & Then, New York Times best-selling author Brian D. McLaren makes the bold proposition in his latest book Faith After Doubt, that only doubt can save the world. And your faith.

DAILY MEDITATION | JUNE 28, 2021
Getting Comfortable with our Own Aging
Caring is first a way to our own aging self, where we can find the healing powers for all those who share in the human condition. No guest will ever feel welcome when the host is not at home in his own house. No old man or woman will ever feel free to reveal his or her hidden anxieties or deeper desires when they only trigger off uneasy feelings in those who are trying to listen. It is no secret that many of our suggestions, advice, admonitions, and good words are often offered in order to keep distance rather than allow closeness. When we are primarily concerned with giving old people something to do, offering them entertainment and distractions, we might avoid the painful realization that most people do not want to be distracted but heard, not entertained but sustained.
"Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone."

PSALM 71:9 (NIV)
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Consider our monthly giving program to sustain the ability to extend Henri's legacy and make his work available to those who seek spiritual formation and nourishment. Click here to sign up today.