Henri Nouwen was a Catholic priest, professor and author. Some people see him as one of the most influential spiritual leaders of our time - or any time.
His whole life was a journey toward a deepening spiritual fulfillment...a search for life's meaning. Along the way he experienced tremendous ups and downs. In his 40 plus books he was excruciatingly honest with his feelings.
A little criticism makes me angry and a little rejection makes me depressed. A little praise raises my spirits, and a little success excites me. It takes very little to raise me up or thrust me down.
Yes, I can relate to that.
Dave and I are taking a class based on Nouwen's book "The Return of the Prodigal Son." Nouwen focuses on a painting by Rembrandt with the same title.
By the way, this painting has been hanging in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, Russia since 1766 when Catherine the Great acquired it. So I'll be able to see it some day when I make my trip to the Hermitage.
Here is the only word I can think of to describe how Nouwen felt about this painting:
Obsessed.
He says about first seeing the painting...I had just finished an exhausting six-week lecturing trip through the United States, calling Christian communities to do anything they possibly could to prevent violence and war in Central America. I was dead tired, so much so that I could barely walk. I was anxious, lonely, restless, and very needy.
Yes, I can relate to that.
The book we're studying in the class is deep and emotional. The nonstop discussion is deep and emotional. Nouwen's writings bring that out in us.
By the way, the parable called "The Prodigal Son" is about a young man who returns home after squandering his his life and fortune. Toward the end of his career Henri Nouwen left his teaching position at Harvard to live the rest of his life in a community for mentally handicapped men and women in Toronto.
He said it felt like returning home.
I can't really relate to that. But I, too, am on a journey and I too am, at my best, a wounded healer.
***
