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Listening in the spiritual life is much more than a psychological strategy to help others discover themselves. In the spiritual life the listener is not the ego, which would like to speak but is trained to restrain itself, but the Spirit of God within us. When we are baptised in the Spirit - that is, when we have received the Spirit of Jesus as the breath of God breathing within us - that Spirit creates in us a sacred space where the other can be received and listened to. The Spirit of Jesus prays in us and listens in us to all who come to us with their sufferings and pains.
When we dare to fully trust in the power of God's Spirit listening in us, we will see true healing occur.
For further reflection...
"If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear. Consider carefully what you hear," Jesus continued. "With the measure you use it will be measured to you -- and even more."[Mark 4: 23-24 (NIV)]
Your response...
Who can the Spirit of Jesus (working through you) listen to today?
Continue the Inspiration
Purchase your copy of Henri Nouwen's book "Spiritual Direction".
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The Henri Nouwen Society of Toronto, Ontario, Canada Daily Meditation with Father Henri J. M. Nouwen "Listening as Spiritual Hospitality" for Friday, 11 March 2016
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To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept.
Listening is much more than allowing another to talk while waiting for a chance to respond. Listening is paying full attention to others and welcoming them into our very beings. The beauty of listening is that, those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously and discovering their own true selves. Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.
For further reflection...
"When Job's three friends heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was."[Job 2: 11, 13 (NIV)]
Your response...
Have you ever considered the powerful effect your listening can have on others?
Continue the Inspiration
Purchase your copy of Henri Nouwen's book "Ministry and Spirituality".---------------------
The Henri Nouwen Society of Toronto, Ontario, Canada Daily Meditation with Father Henri J. M. Nouwen "Our Unique Call" for Thursday, 10 March 2016
Photo courtesy of SDGimagery.com
So many terrible things happen every day that we start wondering whether the few things we do ourselves make any sense. When people are starving only a few thousand miles away, when wars are raging close to our borders, when countless people in our own cities have no homes to live in, our own activities look futile. Such considerations, however, can paralyse us and depress us.
Here the word call becomes important. We are not called to save the world, solve all problems, and help all people. But we each have our own unique call, in our families, in our work, in our world. We have to keep asking God to help us see clearly what our call is and to give us the strength to live out that call with trust. Then we will discover that our faithfulness to a small task is the most healing response to the illnesses of our time.
For further reflection...
"Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God."[Hebrews 6: 7 (NIV)]
Your response...
Have you ever experienced the kind of overwhelming burden or paralysis that Henri describes?
Continue the Inspiration
Purchase your copy of Henri Nouwen's book "Compassion".-
Photo courtesy of SDGimagery.com
To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept.
Listening is much more than allowing another to talk while waiting for a chance to respond. Listening is paying full attention to others and welcoming them into our very beings. The beauty of listening is that, those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously and discovering their own true selves. Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.
For further reflection...
"When Job's three friends heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was."[Job 2: 11, 13 (NIV)]
Your response...
Have you ever considered the powerful effect your listening can have on others?
Continue the Inspiration
Purchase your copy of Henri Nouwen's book "Ministry and Spirituality".---------------------
The Henri Nouwen Society of Toronto, Ontario, Canada Daily Meditation with Father Henri J. M. Nouwen "Our Unique Call" for Thursday, 10 March 2016
Photo courtesy of SDGimagery.com
So many terrible things happen every day that we start wondering whether the few things we do ourselves make any sense. When people are starving only a few thousand miles away, when wars are raging close to our borders, when countless people in our own cities have no homes to live in, our own activities look futile. Such considerations, however, can paralyse us and depress us.
Here the word call becomes important. We are not called to save the world, solve all problems, and help all people. But we each have our own unique call, in our families, in our work, in our world. We have to keep asking God to help us see clearly what our call is and to give us the strength to live out that call with trust. Then we will discover that our faithfulness to a small task is the most healing response to the illnesses of our time.
For further reflection...
"Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God."[Hebrews 6: 7 (NIV)]
Your response...
Have you ever experienced the kind of overwhelming burden or paralysis that Henri describes?
Continue the Inspiration
Purchase your copy of Henri Nouwen's book "Compassion".-
---------------------
The Henri Nouwen Society of Toronto, Ontario, Canada Daily Meditation with Father Henri J. M. Nouwen "Freedom from Judging, Freedom for Mercy" for Wednesday, 9 March 2016
Photo courtesy of SDGimagery.com
We spend an enormous amount of energy making up our minds about other people. Not a day goes by without somebody doing or saying something that evokes in us the need to form an opinion about him or her. We hear a lot, see a lot, and know a lot. The feeling that we have to sort it all out in our minds and make judgments about it can be quite oppressive.
The desert fathers said that judging others is a heavy burden, while being judged by others is a light one. Once we can let go of our need to judge others, we will experience an immense inner freedom. Once we are free from judging, we will be also free for mercy. Let's remember Jesus' words: "Do not judge, and you will not be judged" (Matthew 7:1).
For further reflection...
When the Pharisee who had invited himself saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is - that she is a sinner." Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." He said, "Tell me, teacher." Then Jesus turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "DO YOU SEE THIS WOMAN?"[Luke 7: 39-40, 44 (NIV)]
Your response...
Where in your life would you find it helpful to have more mercy and less judgment?
Continue the Inspiration
Purchase your copy of Henri Nouwen's book "Bread for the Journey".---------------------
The Henri Nouwen Society of Toronto, Ontario, Canada Daily Meditation with Father Henri J. M. Nouwen "Towards a Nonjudgmental Life" for Tuesday, 8 March 2016
Photo courtesy of SDGimagery.com
One of the hardest spiritual tasks is to live without prejudices. Sometimes we aren't even aware how deeply rooted our prejudices are. We may think that we relate to people who are different from us in colour, religion, sexual orientation, or lifestyle as equals, but in concrete circumstances our spontaneous thoughts, uncensored words, and knee-jerk reactions often reveal that our prejudices are still there.
Strangers, people different than we are, stir up fear, discomfort, suspicion, and hostility. They make us lose our sense of security just by being "other." Only when we fully claim that God loves us in an unconditional way and look at "those other persons" as equally loved can we begin to discover that the great variety in being human is an expression of the immense richness of God's heart. Then the need to prejudge people can gradually disappear.
For further reflection...
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in [another's] eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to [another], "Let me take the speck out of your eye," when all the while there is a plank in your own?[Matthew 7: 2-4 (NIV)]
Your response...
How do find yourself reacting to people who are very different than you?
The Henri Nouwen Society of Toronto, Ontario, Canada Daily Meditation with Father Henri J. M. Nouwen "Freedom from Judging, Freedom for Mercy" for Wednesday, 9 March 2016
Photo courtesy of SDGimagery.com
We spend an enormous amount of energy making up our minds about other people. Not a day goes by without somebody doing or saying something that evokes in us the need to form an opinion about him or her. We hear a lot, see a lot, and know a lot. The feeling that we have to sort it all out in our minds and make judgments about it can be quite oppressive.
The desert fathers said that judging others is a heavy burden, while being judged by others is a light one. Once we can let go of our need to judge others, we will experience an immense inner freedom. Once we are free from judging, we will be also free for mercy. Let's remember Jesus' words: "Do not judge, and you will not be judged" (Matthew 7:1).
For further reflection...
When the Pharisee who had invited himself saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is - that she is a sinner." Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." He said, "Tell me, teacher." Then Jesus turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "DO YOU SEE THIS WOMAN?"[Luke 7: 39-40, 44 (NIV)]
Your response...
Where in your life would you find it helpful to have more mercy and less judgment?
Continue the Inspiration
Purchase your copy of Henri Nouwen's book "Bread for the Journey".---------------------
The Henri Nouwen Society of Toronto, Ontario, Canada Daily Meditation with Father Henri J. M. Nouwen "Towards a Nonjudgmental Life" for Tuesday, 8 March 2016
Photo courtesy of SDGimagery.com
One of the hardest spiritual tasks is to live without prejudices. Sometimes we aren't even aware how deeply rooted our prejudices are. We may think that we relate to people who are different from us in colour, religion, sexual orientation, or lifestyle as equals, but in concrete circumstances our spontaneous thoughts, uncensored words, and knee-jerk reactions often reveal that our prejudices are still there.
Strangers, people different than we are, stir up fear, discomfort, suspicion, and hostility. They make us lose our sense of security just by being "other." Only when we fully claim that God loves us in an unconditional way and look at "those other persons" as equally loved can we begin to discover that the great variety in being human is an expression of the immense richness of God's heart. Then the need to prejudge people can gradually disappear.
For further reflection...
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in [another's] eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to [another], "Let me take the speck out of your eye," when all the while there is a plank in your own?[Matthew 7: 2-4 (NIV)]
Your response...
How do find yourself reacting to people who are very different than you?
Continue the Inspiration
Purchase your copy of Henri Nouwen's book "Peacework".---------------------
The Henri Nouwen Society of Toronto, Ontario, Canada Daily Meditation with Father Henri J. M. Nouwen "The Great Gift of Parenthood" for Monday, 7 March 2016
Photo courtesy of SDGimagery.com
Children are their parents' guests. They come into the space that has been created for them, stay for a while - fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five years - and leave again to create their own space. Although parents speak about "our son" and "our daughter," their children are not their property. In many ways children are strangers. Parents have to come to know them, discover their strengths and their weaknesses, and guide them to maturity, allowing them to make their own decisions.
The greatest gift parents can give their children is their love for each other. Through that love they create an anxiety-free place for their children to grow, encouraging them to develop confidence in themselves and find the freedom to choose their own ways in life.
For further reflection...
"If the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring it success."[Ecclesiastes 10:10 (NIV)]
Your response...
In what ways were your own parents able or unable to practice parenting as a form of hospitality?
Continue the Inspiration
Purchase your copy of Henri Nouwen's book "Here and Now".
Photo courtesy of SDGimagery.com
Children are their parents' guests. They come into the space that has been created for them, stay for a while - fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five years - and leave again to create their own space. Although parents speak about "our son" and "our daughter," their children are not their property. In many ways children are strangers. Parents have to come to know them, discover their strengths and their weaknesses, and guide them to maturity, allowing them to make their own decisions.
The greatest gift parents can give their children is their love for each other. Through that love they create an anxiety-free place for their children to grow, encouraging them to develop confidence in themselves and find the freedom to choose their own ways in life.
For further reflection...
"If the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring it success."[Ecclesiastes 10:10 (NIV)]
Your response...
In what ways were your own parents able or unable to practice parenting as a form of hospitality?
Continue the Inspiration
Purchase your copy of Henri Nouwen's book "Here and Now".
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Join us for the Lent 2016 discussion of Henri Nouwen's book "In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership".
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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. Scripture chosen by L. Yeskoo.
STAY CONNECTED:
Henri Nouwen Society
Join us for the Lent 2016 discussion of Henri Nouwen's book "In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership".
Visit our new website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community.
LEARN MORE
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. Scripture chosen by L. Yeskoo.
STAY CONNECTED:
Henri Nouwen Society
95 Saint Joseph Street, Room 214
Toronto, Ontario| M5S 2R9, Canada
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