Conclusion to WITH OPEN HANDS
Well, we have come to the end of Henri’s book but not to the end of our discussion! It is our hope that this community we have all gathered and nurtured will continue the sharing that has taken place over the last six weeks. With Henri as guide, we have meditated on many components of prayer: silence, acceptance, hope, compassion and prophetic criticism. Henri has invited us to “open our hands before God, to accept our existence as a gift to receive.” How has Henri’s With Open Hands helped you to discover “God’s promises and find hope for yourself, your neighbor and your world?”
It has been such a privilege to be a part of this community. Know that I keep you in my prayers and wish you a Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Spring!
Many blessings from all of us at the Henri Nouwen Society,
Maureen Wright
Resource Coordinator
Henri Nouwen Society
5 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
April 9th, 2009 @ 1:45 pm
Hi all,
I missed the last two posts between being out of town and the server being down–but even with that, this group and Henri’s book have been blessings beyond words for me this Lent.
I think the biggest “lesson” I learned is that prayer is not an activity in my life: it is my life with my Beloved Father. It’s knowing that my hands can be open because of God’s love and acceptance. It’s knowing that there is nothing I need to clutch, hide, be ashamed of because of that love and acceptance. Praying is living.
Diane, thank you for the quote from Thomas Merton. I too want my prayers to be as natural, as real, and as necessary as my breaths.
Peace and Joy in Jesus, Deborah
PS–Thank you, Maureen, for all you did to make this a part of our Lenten journey.
April 9th, 2009 @ 7:12 am
Henri’s friend and literary executrix, Sr. Sue Mosteller, gave a reflection a few years ago during which she displayed five sheets of paper, each with what I think of as a prayer: Help Me, Stay With Me, I’m Sorry, Thank You, I Love You. I asked her if I could have these sheets of paper and they have become wonderful prayer guides for me.
Blessings,
Maureen
April 8th, 2009 @ 7:34 pm
Thank you all for once again providing me with a loving and safe place to share my thoughts, feelings and struggles. Reading this book has been a different experience for me compared to previous books and discussions. I wonder if it is the topic?? I’ve been praying the Daily Office during Lent….inspired by my retreats to the Benedictine Monastery. Those fixed, traditional prayers along with this book discussion (very timely, as usual!) have helped me to realize that I have lost my way when it comes to prayer. I have been neglecting my prayer life and have been reluctant to really talk to God as my “Abba Father”. I realize now that I have not been willing to pour my heart out to God the way that Henri does. I talk about prayer, write about prayer, think about prayer but how much do I actually pray (talk to God) throughout my day? The answer is “not much”. I read a book recently by Anne Lamott. She prays a lot like this: “Help me, help me, help me” and “Thank you, thank you, thank you”. I’m trying to imitate this as a first step towards communing more often with Him. I want so much to be like Thomas Merton who said “How I pray is breathe”. I love that. I want my prayers to be as natural and free-flowing as my breaths.
I think I need to read this book again!
Thank you once again Maureen……a peace-filled Easter to you all
Blessings,
Diane
April 8th, 2009 @ 7:50 am
I’m reflecting on your previous post, Rose, turning the question over and over in my mind. Many times I wonder if I am hearing God or confusing some other voice with God’s. For me, being in church with Word and Sacrament and studying and praying, by myself and with other people, seems to offer the most hope of distilling God’s Voice from all that other tangle of voices. What I appreciate from Henri Nouwen’s writings is that, upon reading them, it feels like they give me a way forward of more constancy, more holding on to God’s Big Hand securely, like one holds onto a parent’s hand. It’s sort of mysterious that his writings have that effect on me so just recently from Amazon I got two books about Nouwen, “Henri Nouwen: A Spirituality of Imperfection” and also “The Wounded Prophet” and am looking forward to reading them. Tying up all the joys and blessings with the hurts and pains and integrating everything, being more and more able to live with constancy and faithfulness is something I seem to hear my Father wanting to teach me to do and Henri Nouwen and actually all you others on the blog here are in the long line of teachers/sharers that help this wonderful result to come about, where I discover God’s promises and find hope for myself, my neighbor and the world. Echoing the tidings written above–Happy Passover, Happy Easter, happy spring!!!
God’s Peace,
Sharon
April 7th, 2009 @ 7:49 pm
The following is part of the conclusion in my ancient copy of “With Open Hands” that is NOT in the current edition (page 157 - of the 18th printing (1989) …
“Prayer leads you to see new paths and to hear new melodies in the air. Prayer is the breath of your life which gives you freedom to go and stay where you wish and to find the many signs which point out the way to a new land. Praying is not simply some necessary compartment in the daily scheule of a Christian of a source of support in time of need, nor is it restricted to Sunday morning or as a frame to surround mealtimes. Praying is living. A Benedictine monk living in India writes:
There are no part-time contemplatives, just as there are no part-time Christians, nor part-time men. From the day that we begin to believe in Christ and acknowledge him as Lord, there is no moment — awake, asleep, walking, sitting, working, learning, eating, playing that is not marked by God’s hold on us, which is not lived in the name of Jesus in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
(PRAYER by Abhishiktenanda, Delhi. 1967)
I hope that some of you may get some inspiration from the above.
Thank you for sharing your faith and helping me in my Lenten journey. This has been about the most productive Lent that I have ever had. By this I do NOT mean because I have kept my promises ….. oh how God knows how badly I failed with that; but thanks to the reflections - especially in “Listening” although you know how I am still struggling and it may be time to discuss with a Spiritual Director; I found that reading what all of you were kind enough to share of yourselves touched on much and was helpful.
God Bless you all. I still hope to see answers to my previous post. Thank you.
- Rose