Archives by: Gary Hoag

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

“The Christian leader, min­ister or priest, is not one who reveals God to the people­ — who gives something to those who have nothing — but one who helps those who are searching to discover reality as the source of their existence…

In this context, pastoral conversation is not merely a skillful use of conversational techniques to manipulate peo­ple into the Kingdom of God, but a deep human encounter in which people are willing to put their own faith and doubt, their own hope and despair, their own light and darkness at the disposal of others who want to find a way through their confusion and touch the solid core of life.

In this context, preaching means more than handing over a tradition; it is, rather, the careful and sensitive ar­ticulation of what is happening in the community so that those who listen can say: “You say what I only suspected, you clearly express what I vaguely felt, you bring to the fore what I fearfully kept in the back of my mind. Yes, yes — you say who we are, you recognize our condition.”

When someone who listens is able to say this, then the ground is broken for others to receive the Word of God. And no minister need doubt that the Word will be received! The young especially do not have to run away from their fears and hopes but can see themselves in the face of the one who leads them; the minister will make them understand the words of salvation which in the past often sounded to them like words from a strange and unfamiliar world…

So the first and most basic task of contemporary Chris­tian leaders is to lead people out of the land of confusion into the land of hope.”

Henri Nouwen in The Wounded Healer: Ministry in a Contemporary Society (New York: Image, 1972) 43-44.

This is a great book.

It sketches counsel for doing ministry in a dislocated world to rootless generations bereft of hope. And it acknowledges the wounds and loneliness of the minister.

I found the PDF if you want it.

Today’s post reminds us as Christian workers that our giving may not be just material, but also deeply spiritual. We get to articulate what is happening in a manner that brings hope.

This is easier said than done.

To lead people from confusion to hope, we must make the journey first ourselves. This is where I find myself. Trusting God at deeper levels helps me overflow with hope. Join me on this way.

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Acts 3:1-10

“When people show you their boundaries (“I can’t do this for you”), you feel rejected. You cannot accept the fact that others are unable to do for you all that you expect from them. You desire boundless love, boundless care, boundless giving.

Part of your struggle is to set boundaries to your own love—something you have never done. You give whatever people ask of you, and when they ask for more, you give more, until you find yourself exhausted, used, and manipulated. Only when you are able to set your own boundaries will you be able to acknowledge, respect, and even be grateful for the boundaries of others.

In the presence of the people you love, your needs grow and grow, until those people are so overwhelmed by your needs that they are practically forced to leave you for their own survival.

The great task is to claim yourself for yourself, so that you can contain your needs within the boundaries of your self and hold them in the presence of those you love. True mutuality in love requires people who possess themselves and who can give to each other while holding on to their own identities.

So, in order both to give more effectively and to be more self-contained with your needs, you must learn to set boundaries to your love.”

Henri Nouwen in The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom (New York: Image, 1999) 20. Found another winner! I located this book in PDF form. Reply if you want a copy.

Today Henri helps us learn how to give more effectively. This is something I think most readers want to know. We see it illustrated in today’s Scripture.

Peter and John head into the temple and the lame beggar expects something from them. This is true for all of us, even if we are not lame. We have expectations of each other linked to giving.

When he asks them for a handout of money, the reply of Peter and John shocks him. They don’t give him what he wants but what he needs from what they have. They offer a hand up. A miracle happens.

Nouwen’s counsel echoes this. It may surprise us because Henri does not point us to study the analytics of various charities to give more effectively. In plain terms, he does not point us outward, but rather inward.

Peter and John had boundaries and knew what they could give. When we set such boundaries we too are able to increase the effectiveness of our loving generosity. What might such boundaries look like for you?

At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Job 1:20-21

“If there is any word that summarizes well our pain, it is the word “loss.” We have lost so much! Sometimes it even seems that life is just one long series of losses. When we were born we lost the safety of the womb, when we went to school we lost the security of our family life, when we got our first job we lost the freedom of youth, when we got married or ordained we lost the joy of many options, and when we grew old we lost our good looks, our old friends, or our fame. When we became weak or ill, we lost our physical independence, and when we die we will lose it all! And these losses are part of the ordinary life!

But whose life is ordinary? The losses that settle themselves deeply in our hearts and minds are the loss of intimacy through separations, the loss of safety through violence, the loss of innocence through abuse, the loss of friends through betrayal, the loss of love through abandonment, the loss of home through war, the loss of well-being through hunger, heat, and cold, the loss of children through illness or accidents, the loss of country through political upheaval, and the loss of life through earthquakes, floods, plane crashes, bombings, and diseases.

Perhaps many of these dark losses are far away from most of us; maybe they belong to the world of newspapers and television screens, but nobody can escape the agonizing losses that are part of our everyday existence — the loss of our dreams. We had thought so long of ourselves as successful, liked, and deeply loved. We had hoped for a life of generosity, service, and self-sacrifice. We had planned to become forgiving, caring, and always gentle people. We had a vision of ourselves as reconcilers and peacemakers.

But somehow — we aren’t even sure of what happened — we lost our dream. We became worrying, anxious people clinging to the few things we had collected and exchanging with one another news of the political, social, and ecclesiastical scandals of the day. It is this loss of spirit that is often hardest to acknowledge and most difficult to confess. But beyond all of these things there is the loss of faith — the loss of the conviction that our life has meaning. For a time we were able to bear our losses and even to live them with fortitude and perseverance because we lived them as losses that would bring us closer to God.”

Henri Nouwen in With Burning Hearts: A Meditation on the Eucharistic Life (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1994) 24-26.

What does a lengthy post on “loss” have to do with the generous life. Today’s Scripture sums it up perfectly. Sometimes the Lord gives, and sometimes the Lord takes away. In all things we must worship the Lord, holding on to rather than abandoning our faith and urging others to do the same.

But it’s really hard in times of loss. I remember, as spiritual advisor to the founding owner of the Colorado Rockies, Jerry McMorris, it was hard to encourage him to hold on to his faith. When we were together one day, I asked him what it was like being in such a high profile role.

He said, “Gary, when things go well, you are on top of the world. But when things are bad. It’s really bad.” Then he turned and concluded. “The highs are high and the lows are low, but the lows are lower than the highs are high.” Maybe that’s why he appreciated our friendship? I journeyed with him in highs and lows and encouraged his faith.

If you are experiencing losses right now, or you know someone who is. Sit with Job and remember to worship in these times. Give thanks for all circumstances. Also, remember to encourage others because life is really hard, but Christ is with us and allows losses to draw us closer to Him.

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing Him. He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. Luke 24:13-17

This excerpt from one of Henri’s letters to Marc is long but brings to life how journeying with people in despair can help them arrive at a place of pure delight. For Jesus, the generous gift was a seven mile walk.

“I want to tell you about Jesus. It’s the story of Cleopas and his friend who, with heavy hearts, had set out on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus…

Jesus joins the two men, but they fail to recognize him. What does he do? First he listens to their sad story in a very personal, you might say intimate, fashion. He enters right into their sense of disappointment. He shares their feelings with them. He is prepared to be where they are.

So when Jesus joins these two dejected men, He knows very well what is in their hearts. He knows from experience what human despair is. He knows death and the tomb; He knows what it means to be mortal. Cleopas and his friend must, I think, have perceived that this stranger was really no stranger at all. He understood them too well to remain strange to them for long. They saw that this man was not going to offer them easy words of comfort. When it is Jesus’ turn to speak, He speaks with an authority based not on power, but on personal experience of living. That’s why they listen to Him so attentively.

What does Jesus tell them? Not that death and the dissolution of life are unreal. Nor that their yearning for freedom is unreal. No: in what He says He takes seriously not only death and dissolution, but their longing for freedom as well. He tells them that the Jesus in whom they had placed all their hopes, the Jesus who was indeed dead and buried, this Jesus is alive. He tells them that for the Jesus whom they had admired so much, death and dissolution have become the way to liberation. And He says this in such a way that they sense in their innermost selves that His way can become their way too.

As Jesus was talking to them, they experienced in their hearts the arrival of something new. It was as if their hearts were burning with a flame that came not from without but from within. Jesus had kindled in them something for which they had no words but which was so authentic, so real, that it overcame their depression. Jesus had not said, “It isn’t nearly as bad as you think.” He had said something entirely new: “The most tragic, the most painful, the most hopeless circumstances can become the way to the liberation you long for most of all.” …

When the three men reached Emmaus, so much had happened between them that the two companions were unwilling to let the stranger go. Between these two and Jesus there had arisen a bond which had given them new hope, even though they scarcely knew why. They felt that this unknown individual had given them something new. They didn’t want to go indoors without Him. So they said, “Stay with us. It is nearly evening, and the day is almost over.” Luke, in his account, even says that they implored Him to be their guest. Jesus accepted the invitation and went in with them.

And now there happens something which, for you and me, is of major significance. It touches the very core of the spiritual life. When they sit down to eat, Jesus takes some bread, speaks a blessing over it, breaks it and offers it to them. And as he does so, they know suddenly and with unshakeable certainty that this stranger is Jesus, the same Jesus who had been put to death and laid in a tomb. But at the precise moment this certainty is given to them, he becomes invisible to them.

So much is going on here that it’s difficult to get its full significance across to you; and so I shall limit myself to what is, for me, a very crucial aspect of this incident. What matters here is that the moment Cleopas and his friend recognized Jesus in the breaking of bread, His bodily presence was no longer required as a condition for their new hope. You might say that the bond between them and the stranger had become so intimate that everything strange about him vanishes, and, in the most literal sense, he becomes their bosom friend. So close does He come to them that they no longer need a bodily manifestation in order to hope. They realize now that the new life born in them as they talked with him on the road will stay with them and give them the strength to return to Jerusalem and tell the other people why it isn’t true that “It’s all over.” That’s why Luke reports that they went off straightaway to tell Jesus’ other friends about their experience.

Are you beginning to see what I’m getting at? Cleopas and his friend had become different people. Because they had experienced for themselves that the Jesus whom they had mourned for was alive and closer to them than ever, their hearts were born again, and their inner life was made radically new. That’s something quite different from coming to a new conviction or acquiring a new outlook on things or undergoing a change of opinion.”

Henri Nouwen in Letters to Marc about Jesus: Living a Spiritual Life in a Material World (New York: HarperCollins, 2007). This excerpt comes from Letter II “Jesus: The God Who Sets Us Free.” The book contains seven letters Henri wrote to Marc van Campen. Reply if you want the PDF of it. So rich!

The example of Jesus on this seven mile journey offers us insight on how to love people generously despite their despair. We walk with them. We ask questions. We proclaim what is true and people experience transformation. God help us walk with people and engage with them in ways that make them different and restore their joy.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Colossians 3:15

“Not every letter Henri received was from a soul in trouble! Here he writes to a woman whose problem is that she has a wonderful life but is longing for a more personal, intimate and direct relationship with God.

Dear Ruth,

Many thanks for your very lovely letter. I am grateful to you for writing me about yourself and your family, especially about your desire to grow closer to the Lord.

You have, indeed, lived a very rich and beautiful life, and God has blessed you in many ways. I guess in our culture there are few people who could say the things you can say and tell the stories you can tell.

In some way I feel that God has been very active in your life and has been very generous to you and your family. What you seem to ask for is for more intimate, direct, personal contact with Him, a way of experiencing Him more directly. It is a beautiful desire to have, and the desire itself shows God’s special love for you.

I, obviously, do not have a simple answer to your question, but two things come to mind. First of all is gratitude. Maybe you could try to develop a prayer of gratitude. Many people find it hard to be grateful. Many people feel that they need more than they have and are often angry that they do not receive what they want. You have the experience of being given many good things, and, therefore, it will be easier for you to live a life of gratefulness. Gratitude is one of the greatest Christian virtues. “Eucharist” means saying thanks, and if you could say thanks, not just for what you have received, but also for all the gifts God gives to his people, your life would become more and more a Eucharistic life, a life in which you say thanks to the giver of life.

Secondly, I think that your life can be more and more a life of intercession. Jesus’ suffering is for all people. He came to bring all people closer to His Father. One of the greatest vocations we as Christians have is to pray for others. To pray for the many people who we know as well as for the many we don’t know but of whose suffering we are aware. My sense is that you will come closer to the Lord Jesus the more you pray for others, because Jesus came for others and praying for others is entering more deeply into the mystery of His divine intercession. There are so many people who need our prayers, and to take the time to lift them up to the Lord is one of the greatest services we can perform.

Maybe you can buy a notebook in which you can write down all the people for whom you want to pray. I am sure that book will fill up very soon, and you can take that book with you in your prayer and ask the Lord to touch all the people whose names you have brought together. Doing so, you certainly will experience more fully the love of Jesus.

I think that a life of grateful prayer and a life of intercession for others will bring you the goal you seek.

There is much more to say about this, and I am quite willing to write you again when you desire that. I just hope that these few thoughts at least will point in a direction that might be helpful to you. If not, please let me know and we will try other ways.

Be sure of my fervent prayer for you. My conviction is that those who desire to come closer to the Lord will be richly rewarded. Be sure to ask the Lord to give you the gift of prayers. It is the greatest gift He wants to give.”

Sincerely yours, Henri”

Henri Nouwen in Love, Henri: Letters on the Spiritual Life (New York: Convergent, 2016) in his letter dated 3 February 1983.

If you have it good and feel like you enjoy a wonderful life, then this post is for you. Henri says live a life of grateful prayer and intercession. God will take you deeper…to unknown depths.

Don’t think for one minute that the good place you find yourself came from your doing or diligence. Cultivate gratitude and grateful prayer, and add to that, praying for others.

We are all in this thing called life together. It’s hard. Really hard. So for all God’s gifts, let us give thanks, and for those around us, let us offer up fervent prayers as gifts for others.

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3

“It is not always easy to believe that we are unconditionally loved even when those who love us disagree with us or disapprove of us. But this is the love with which God loves us and wants us to love each other. It is a love that includes even those who treat us as enemies, who reject us or are angry with us. Because once we know in the depth of our hearts that we are forgiven children of God, we will always be able to forgive those who cannot respond to our love.

What are the implications of all of this for our daily life? Here are a few.

1. Keep in touch with your own belovedness. Prayer, good friends, and nature can help you a lot with this.
2. Never react impulsively to those who hurt you. Respond from the heart where you know that you are loved. Always take time and ask yourself, “What is the best and most honest response I can make?’
3. Do not compromise your own integrity. Simply trying to please the person who hurts you is a way of compromising yourself. Always stand straight!
4. Be consistent in your relationships. Sudden outbursts of anger or sudden gestures of intimacy make you lose solid ground and only make real healing and reconciliation more difficult.
5. Always be kind, open to listen, willing to talk and generous in forgiving, but never at the cost of losing your freedom as a child of God.
6. Be very patient. What seems impossible one year might be quite possible the next!
7. In everything keep a sense of humor and deep gratitude for the gifts of life and love.
8. Always trust, trust, and trust.”

Henri Nouwen in Love, Henri: Letters on the Spiritual Life (New York: Convergent, 2016) in his letter to Joan Kroc, the wife of the founder of the McDonald’s hamburger chain. She met regularly to discuss the spiritual life with Henri. In 1995, after one of their meetings, Henri wrote her this reflection on unconditional love.

Generous is God’s love for us. Unfathomably generous!

God put Henri in a place where he interacted with really influential people who wrestled with the implications of God’s unconditional love. We might be tempted to think that we don’t know the wife of the founder of McDonalds so we can’t have impact in the lives of influential people. But the reality is that everyone is special to God.

And we can impact those around us by living in light of His generous love.

Who do you know that you could help soak in the implications of God’s generous and unconditional love toward us? Who are you talking to this week that could benefit from these words? Sit with this list. Pick a point on it. Ponder it. Share how God speaks to you through it with someone you know. See what happens.

Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. Ephesians 6:19-20

“It means a lot to me that you keep in touch and that you are willing to support me with your prayers. If anything holds me up, it is the prayers of friends and I rely on them. What I am experiencing is a really deep spiritual crisis in which I realize that God wants all of my heart, not simply a part of it. It seems as if He wants to test my faithfulness and my commitment in a new way. He is really asking me to let go of everything that does not bring me closer to Him. He calls me to a more generous prayer life and to a more fearless ministry. This year is a kind of desert year to purify my heart. It is painful, but also full of grace.”

Henri Nouwen in Love, Henri: Letters on the Spiritual Life (New York: Convergent, 2016) in his letter dated 19 May 1988 to his friend Robert J. Wicks, a spiritual writer and professor of pastoral counseling at Loyola College in Maryland. Therein he shares his hope that he can return to Daybreak “before too long” and identifies his recent experience as a “deep spiritual crisis.”

I searched Henri’s use of the word “generous” in this collection of his letters and got a flood of occurrences. I plan to share them over the next few days. And since “share” is my word for the year, let me know if you want the PDF of this book, because I located a free copy for reading and sharing.

What struck me today was the parallel between Paul’s hard year in chains and Henri’s desert year to purify his heart. Henri felt God calling him “to a more generous prayer life and to a more fearless ministry.” It teaches me that God wants us to commune with him and that may push us out of our comfort zone.

He may take us to places like prison (in Paul’s case) where He knows some of our best work can happen. It’s counterintuitive. But that’s how the spiritual life works. We don’t lose, we gain when we give. And when we experience hard times, a more generous prayer life propels us to fearless ministry.

Think more deeply with me for a moment. Fear is what hinders us from generous service and holds us back. When we commune with God more generously, it launches us with new courage. When we pray for others, it impacts their lives too. Is God calling you to a more generous prayer life and fearless ministry? 

At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. Luke 4:42

“You must decide for yourself to whom and when you give access to your interior life. For years you have permitted others to walk in and out of your life according to their needs and desires. Thus you were no longer master in your own house, and you felt increasingly used. So, too, you quickly became tired, irritated, angry, and resentful.

Think of a medieval castle surrounded by a moat. The drawbridge is the only access to the interior of the castle. The lord of the castle must have the power to decide when to draw the bridge and when to let it down. Without such power, he can become the victim of enemies, strangers, and wanderers. He will never feel at peace in his own castle.

It is important for you to control your own drawbridge. There must be times when you keep your bridge drawn and have the opportunity to be alone or only with those to whom you feel close. Never allow yourself to become public property, where anyone can walk in and out at will. You might think that you are being generous in giving access to anyone who wants to enter or leave, but you will soon find yourself losing your soul.

When you claim for yourself the power over your drawbridge, you will discover new joy and peace in your heart and find yourself able to share that joy and peace with others.”

Henri Nouwen in The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey through Anguish to Freedom (New York: Image, 1998) 84-85. I located this priceless piece in PDF form too. Reply if you want a copy.

Nouwen urges us to control our own drawbridge, which is carefully giving people access to our lives. We see this in Jesus. He seems to make Himself available to receptive people but not to everyone.

Hear this counsel. “You might think that you are being generous in giving access to anyone who wants to enter or leave, but you will soon find yourself losing your soul.” Jesus was strategic in sharing Himself.

It’s a good lesson for us today related to generosity. We must not lock the drawbridge closed or leave it open all the time. In the middle we focus on the Father and the people He wants us to serve.

God help us with this! Today I am closing my drawbridge. I am taking the day off work to enjoy time with my wife Jenni. It’s our 30th wedding anniversary.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21

“There you have it: the love of God is an unconditional love, and only that love can empower us to live together without violence. When we know that God loves us deeply and will always go on loving us, whoever we are and whatever we do, it becomes possible to expect no more of our fellow men and women than they are able to give, to forgive them generously when they have offended us, and to respond to their hostility with love. By doing so we make visible a new way of being human and a new way of responding to our world problems.”

Henri Nouwen in Letters to Marc about Jesus: Living a Spiritual Life in a Material World (New York: HarperCollins, 2007). This excerpt comes from Letter V. The book contains seven letters Henri wrote to Marc van Campen.

Today you get a bonus. It’s like a doubleheader in baseball, which is fitting as I got to spend special time with my baseball-loving friend, Dan Busby, yesterday. When I drove up, he was sitting on the porch.

I got out of the car and sat down with him, “How are you, Gary?” He asked. I replied (quoting Scripture), “The righteous man has many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.” He echoed the value of that verse.

I added that if I am good it is because I try to remind myself daily to focus on God’s love. This helps me stay centered in a crazy world much like the thinking from Henri. Then I turned to hear from him. We enjoyed hours together.

This book is a gem. It’s like a porch conversation with a giant in the faith. It inspires and instructs. It moves you to grow. As a bonus, here’s his entire Letter VII. May it nurture your spiritual life and empower your generous response.

Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. Luke 17:33

“Thursday, 18th September

My dear Marc,

It was more than seven months ago that I began writing these letters about the spiritual life. I sent you the first three from West Germany, the three later ones from France. That now seems far away and long ago.

In mid-August I went to Canada to live and work at Daybreak, the L’Arche community near Toronto. This morning I read through my letters to you once more, and I realized that I’d probably written them as much for myself as for you. My year in Europe was meant to be a period of searching for a new direction in my life. I had a vague notion that Jesus was calling me to leave the university and to go and live with mentally handicapped people. My meeting with Jean Vanier and my stay in the L’Arche community at Trosly awoke in me something new which I couldn’t continue to ignore. The burning question was, “How best am I to follow Jesus?”

In my letters I’ve tried to bring you closer to Jesus. But I now realize that I’ve also “used” these letters to get to know Jesus better myself and so become better able to hear the invitation to follow him. It’s good, I think, that these letters have a purpose for both of us, because it’s only with what touches my heart that I am able to touch yours.

In my first letter, I said that I could write to you only what I’ve lived through and experienced myself. In this final letter I can honestly say that everything I have written to you has sprung directly from my own search for God. I hope this will prove more of a help than a hindrance for you. My greatest desire was to awaken in you a deep love for Jesus. I’ve told you of the Jesus who liberates, of the suffering Jesus and his compassion; of the Jesus who in his humility chose the descending way, of the loving Jesus who challenges us to love even our enemies; and finally of the Jesus of Nazareth who reveals to us the mystery of God’s hiddenness. As you see, I’ve begun with the end of the gospel and ended with the beginning. In doing that I’ve tried to stay close to the church’s proclamation, which approaches the mysteries of God’s incarnation and redemption from the perspective of its faith in the risen Lord.

In the course of writing I’ve discovered for myself the great extent to which I’m inclined to “secularize” Jesus. Instinctively, I look to Jesus for a cheap liberation, a solution to my problems, help with my desire for success, getting even with my opponents, and a good measure of publicity. It’s not always easy to see Jesus as the gospel presents him: as the Lord who calls us to spiritual freedom, shares our suffering, shows us the descending way, challenges us to love our enemies, and secretly reveals God’s love to us. And yet, each time I catch a glimpse of the real Jesus, I’m conscious of a new inward peace, and it is again possible to recognize his voice and follow it.

So I can tell you that these letters have helped me to see the real Jesus and have strengthened my decision to go to Canada and live and work there with mentally handicapped people.

Spiritual life is life lived in the spirit of Jesus. I’ve spoken of the Eucharist as being the center of that life. Jesus is more, much more, than an important historical figure who can still inspire us today. In the Eucharist he sets us free from constraint and compulsion, unites our suffering with his, forms a fellowship in shared vulnerability, offers us a love that forgives even our enemies, and helps us to see God in the seclusion of the human heart. Where the Eucharist is, there Jesus really is present; there too the church really is a body, and there we really do share, even now, in eternal life.

You and I both are called to be disciples of Jesus. The differences between us in age, circumstances, upbringing, and experience are small matters compared with the calling we have in common. What counts is being attentive at all times to the voice of God’s love invit- ing us to obey, that is, to make a generous response.
How can we keep listening to this voice in a world which does its best to distract us and get our attention for seemingly more urgent matters? In this last letter I want to put before you, by way of a conclusion, three forms of listening that for me have proven to be the most productive.

First of all, listen to the church. I know that isn’t a popular bit of advice at a time and in a country where the church is often seen more as an obstacle in the way than as the way to Jesus. Nevertheless, I’m deeply convinced that the greatest spiritual danger for our times is the separation of Jesus from the church. The church is the body of the Lord. Without Jesus there can be no church; and without the church we cannot stay united with Jesus. I’ve yet to meet anyone who has come closer to Jesus by forsaking the church. To listen to the church is to listen to the Lord of the church. Specifically, this entails taking part in the church’s liturgical life. Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost: these seasons and feasts teach you to know Jesus better and better and unite you more and more intimately with the divine life he offers you in the church.

The Eucharist is the heart of the church’s life. It’s there that you hear the life-giving gospel and receive the gifts that sustain that life within you. The best assurance that you’ll go on listening to the church is your regular participation in the Eucharist.

Second, listen to the book. By that I mean read the Bible; read books about the Bible, about the spiritual life, and the lives of “great” saints. I know you read a good deal; but a lot of what you read distracts you from the way that Jesus is showing you. The secondary school and university offer you little in the way of “spiritual reading.” That’s why it’s very important for you to read regularly books which will help you in your spiritual life. Many people are brought to God through spiritual literature that they chance or choose to read. Augustine, Ignatius, Thomas Merton, and many others have been converted through the book. The challenge, however, is not to read a “spiritual” book as a source of interesting information, but rather to listen to it as to a voice that addresses you directly. It isn’t easy to let a text “read” you. Your thirst for know- ledge and information often makes you desire to own the word, in- stead of letting the word own you. Even so, you will learn the most by listening carefully to the Word that seeks admission to your heart.

Finally, listen to your heart. It’s there that Jesus speaks most intimately to you. Praying is first and foremost listening to Jesus, who dwells in the very depths of your heart. He doesn’t shout. He doesn’t thrust himself upon you. His voice is an unassuming voice, very nearly a whisper, the voice of a gentle love. Whatever you do with your life, go on listening to the voice of Jesus in your heart. This listening must be an active and very attentive listening, for in our restless and noisy world Jesus’ loving voice is easily drowned out. You need to set aside some time every day for this active listening to Jesus, if only for ten minutes. Ten minutes each day for Jesus alone can bring about a radical change in your life.

You’ll find that it isn’t easy to be still for ten minutes at a time. You’ll discover straightaway that many other voices—voices that are very noisy and distracting, voices which are not God’s—demand your attention. But if you stick to your daily prayer time, then slowly but surely you’ll come to hear the gentle voice of love and will long more and more to listen to it.

These three ways of listening will guide you to an ever-deepening spiritual life. They will help you to get to know Jesus in a very intimate way, make you aware of the unique manner in which he is calling you, and give you the courage to follow him even to places where you would rather not go. Living with Jesus is a great adventure. It’s the adventure of love. When you admit Jesus to your heart nothing is predictable, but everything becomes possible. I pray that you will venture on a life with Jesus. He asks everything of you, but gives you more in return. With all my heart I wish you much hope, much courage, and abounding confidence.

Affectionate greetings to your parents, and to Frédérique and Reinier.

Henri”

If you want a PDF copy of Letters to Marc about Jesus: Living a Spiritual Life in a Material World, just reply and I will share it with you.

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). Matthew 1:23

“Ministry happens when you participate in the mystery of being with. The whole incarnation, God-with-us, Emmanuel, is first of all being with people. Caring means “to cry out with.” Compassion literally means “to be with those who suffer.” Ministry means we are to be precisely where people are vulnerable, not to fix it or to change it. That is an unintended fruit of it, but that is not why you are there. Jesus is first of all God-with-us. For thirty years he was just living in a small village, living the same life that we live. It was only for three years that he was preaching. So even when you look at it in a spiritual way, Jesus’ ministry wasn’t just the three years he was preaching. The mystery is that he shared our lives. Ministry is being with the sick, the dying, being with people wherever they are, whatever their problems. We dare to be with them in their weakness and trust that if we are entering into people’s vulnerable places, we will experience immense joy. That is the mystery of ministry. You can’t solve the world’s problems, but you can be with people.”

Henri Nouwen in Returning to God (St. Louis: All Saints Press, 2014) 21-22.

Jesus modeled the ministry of being with.

This has been a significant area of learning for me in recent years. Think about it. We are most like Christ when we listen and love, when we move toward rather than away from people who are struggling or suffering. And the key is not trying to solve their problems but merely to sit in their presence.

This week Peter Fiorello, Carla Archila, and I spent the week with a group of Chileans who say that they will never be the same. We taught and talked, listened and laughed. It was priceless and wrapped up nicely. I hope to visit them in November for a couple day between work in Brazil and Panama.

Today, I spend time with my dear friend, Dan Busby.

He’s battled Covid and cancer, but his life is so much bigger than these two recent challenges. I am looking forward to time together talking about baseball and books, people and places, family and faith, and so much more. I hope I bless him and look forward to how I am blessed in being with him.

God showed His generosity to us through the ministry of being with. How will you go and do likewise?