Henri Nouwen: In My Own Words

edited by Robert Durback (Liguori, Oct, 2001, Hardcover)

Taking its place in a continuing "In My Own Words" series launched by Liguori publications, featuring excerpts from the works of prominent writers and inspiring leaders, Henri Nouwen: In My Own Words features excerpts from Nouwen's latest writings as well as portions of his earlier writings not yet collected in book form, including his treatise on "Spiritual Direction," originally published by Yale in 1981, yet as timely today, 20 years later.

Editor Robert Durback (Seeds of Hope) arranges his selections under 6 simple headings: "Setting, Awareness, Response, Turning Point, Commitment, Completion.  Reserving "Setting" for special treatment, Durback goes on to explain the five categories that follow:

"Awareness, Response, Turning-Point, Commitment and Completion, are five ways of being alive.  I see in them the five dynamics that power a human life to move from stagnancy to growth and fulfillment.  When one of them is missing, something may be missing from your life." 

Returning to the Setting, the editor introduces Nouwen as walking out on a stage and speaking his opening words: "I never planned to be a writer and have never really thought of myself as a writer.  In fact, my father always used to say that I didn't have more than 300 words in my vocabulary." The words are taken from an interview published in Critic magazine in 1972, the bulk of which forms the backdrop and introduction for all that follows in the rest of the book.

Themes developed in the rest of the book: Silence, Solitude, Prayer, Contemplation and Action, Homelessness, Spiritual Direction, Community, Eucharist, Bread for the Journey, Death as Final Journey. Completion.

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