The Reflection for the Fourth Sunday in Lent - The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for Sunday, 11 March 2018 Reflection for the Fourth Sunday in Lent

The Reflection for the Fourth Sunday in Lent - The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for Sunday, 11 March 2018
Reflection for the Fourth Sunday in Lent

OVERCOME FEAR

Nicodemus admired Jesus but was afraid to lose the respect of his own colleagues. I am becoming more and more aware of the importance of looking at these fearful sympathizers because that is the group I find myself mostly gravitating toward.
I love Jesus but want to hold on to my own friends even when they do not lead me closer to Jesus. I love Jesus but I want to hold on to my own independence even when that independence brings me no real freedom....I love Jesus but do not want to give up my writing plans, travel plans, and speaking plans, even when those plans are often more to my glory than to the glory of God.
So I am like Nicodemus, who came by night, said safe things about Jesus to his colleagues, and expressed guilt by bringing to the grave more myrrh and aloes (John 19:39) than needed or desired.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Dearest God, help me to evaluate my motivations and actions in the light of your purposes and not be held sway by the advice of friends and opinion makers. Let me look to you rather than to others for guidance, for in setting that priority I learn to renounce my own will and keep peace with you.

Amen.

The Henri Nouwen Society thanks you.
Your gift helps us reach the world!

Lent Online Book Discussion

There is still time to participate in the Nouwen Book Discussion which runs throughout Lent.This year's featured book is The Road to Daybreak: A Spiritual Journey.
Facilitated by Brynn Lawrence and Ray Glennon, you are welcome to participate in any way that is spiritually nourishing for you!
Read * Reflect * Share
For more information, click here.
Excerpt from The Road to Daybreak by Henri J.M. Nouwen, published by Penguin Random House. Used with kind permission of the publisher.
Photo of Henri Nouwen by Frank Hamilton. Used with kind permission.
***
The Daily Meditation: "Listening as Spiritual Hospitality" The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for Sunday, 11 March 2018

DAILY MEDITATION: "Listening as Spiritual Hospitality" for Sunday, 11 March 2018

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?

Comment on this meditation.

Continue the Inspiration
Purchase your copy of Henri Nouwen's book "Ministry and Spirituality"
Visit our Bookstore:
United States | Canada | United Kingdom
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.
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:

The Henri Nouwen Society

214 - 95 Saint Joseph Street

Toronto, Ontario M5S 2R9, Canada

***