Monday, July 10, 2017

The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Daily Meditation for Monday, 10 July 2017: "Listening With Our Wounds"

The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Daily Meditation for Monday, 10 July 2017: "Listening With Our Wounds"

DAILY MEDITATION: "Listening With Our Wounds"
Monday, 10 July 2017 
Photo courtesy of Jim van Dijk
To enter into solidarity with a suffering person does not mean that we have to talk with that person about our own suffering. Speaking about our own pain is seldom helpful for someone who is in pain. A wounded healer is someone who can listen to a person in pain without having to speak about his or her own wounds. When we have lived through a painful depression, we can listen with great attentiveness and love to a depressed friend without mentioning our experience. Mostly it is better not to direct a suffering person's attention to ourselves. We have to trust that our own bandaged wounds will allow us to listen to others with our whole beings. That is healing.
Henri Nouwen
For further reflection...

Then Jesus said, "Let anyone with ears to hear, listen!" [Mark 4: 9 (NRSV)]
Your response...

Practice listening "with your whole being" today.
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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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