The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with Father Henri J. M. Nouwen DAILY MEDITATION "The Authority of Compassion" for Wednesday, 26 October 2016

The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with Father Henri J. M. Nouwen DAILY MEDITATION "The Authority of Compassion" for Wednesday, 26 October 2016

Photo courtesy of SDGimagery.com
The Church often wounds us deeply. People with religious authority often wound us by their words, attitudes, and demands. Precisely because our religion brings us in touch with the questions of life and death, our religious sensibilities can get hurt most easily. Ministers and priests seldom fully realize how a critical remark, a gesture of rejection, or an act of impatience can be remembered for life by those to whom it is directed.
There is such an enormous hunger for meaning in life, for comfort and consolation, for forgiveness and reconciliation, for restoration and healing, that anyone who has any authority in the Church should constantly be reminded that the best word to characterize religious authority is compassion. Let's keep looking at Jesus whose authority was expressed in compassion.

For further reflection..."Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."[Ephesians 5: 1,2 (NIV)]
Your response...
"To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you."?[C.S. Lewis]

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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.
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