Monday, January 1, 2024

Nouwen Meditation: A New Beginning!

Now & Then Podcast


We are thrilled to kick off the New Year with part 2 of an intimate interview between Henri Nouwen and Brian Stiller. In 1995, Brian, host of the weekly Cross Currents television show, conducted an exclusive interview with Henri at his L'Arche Daybreak home. In this rare uncut video, Nouwen discusses hope, prayer, and finding joy amid suffering in this episode of Henri Nouwen, Now & Then.


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DAILY MEDITATION | JANUARY 1, 2024

A New Beginning!

We must learn to live each day, each hour, yes, each minute as a new beginning, as a unique opportunity to make everything new. Imagine that we could live each moment as a moment pregnant with new life. Imagine that we could live each day as a day full of promises. Imagine that we could walk through the new year always listening to the voice saying to us: “I have a gift for you and can’t wait for you to see it!” Imagine.


Is it possible that our imagination can lead us to the truth of our lives? Yes, it can! The problem is that we allow our past, which becomes longer and longer each year, to say to us: “You know it all; you have seen it all, be realistic; the future will just be a repeat of the past. Try to survive it as best you can.” There are many cunning foxes jumping on our shoulders and whispering in our ears the great lie: “There is nothing new under the sun... don’t let yourself be fooled.”



When we listen to these foxes, they eventually prove themselves right: our new year, our new day, our new hour become flat, boring, dull, and without anything new.


So what are we to do? First, we must send the foxes back to where they belong: in their foxholes. And then we must open our minds and our hearts to the voice that resounds through the valleys and hills of our life saying: “Let me show you where I live among my people. My name is ‘God-with-you.’ I will wipe all the tears from your eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness. The world of the past has gone” (Revelation 21:2–5).

Henri J. M. Nouwen
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Amen. Come Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.


REVELATION 22:20b-21 (NIV)

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Text excerpts taken from "You are the Beloved"

by Henri J.M. Nouwen

© 2017 by The Henri Nouwen Legacy Trust.

Published by Convergent Books.

Photo from shutterstock.com.

Scripture reading contributed by L. Yeskoo.


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