¡Gracias!
A Latin American Journal
“Nouwen puts his inexhaustible curiosity and hunger for religious experience gladly at the service of a worldwide audience.” — The Boston Globe
In this journal of his travels in Bolivia and Peru, Nouwen ponders the presence of God in the poor, the challenge of a persecuted church, the relation between faith and justice, and his own struggle to discern the path along which God is calling him. This edition includes a preface in which Nouwen reflects on the meaning and challenge of the Latin American church both for himself and for North American Christians. As he writes, “I fervently hope and pray that those who read this journal will find in these pages new hope, new confidence and new courage to keep faithful to the task God has given them.”
More About this Book
This book is the published journal of Nouwen’s six-month sojourn in Bolivia and Peru to explore a missionary vocation with the Maryknoll fathers. He went to Bolivia to study Spanish from October-December 1981 and then moved to a barrio in Lima Peru, for the first three months of 1982. The journal documents Nouwen’s efforts to answer the question: “Does God call me to live and work in Latin America in the years to come?” It is an intensely personal account as well as a vital commentary on the how the church ought to be present in the world.
Themes: Identity, Discernment, Vocation, Liberation Theology, Missionary work, Ministry, Presence of God, the Church, Obedience, Listening, Letter Writing, Contemplation, Prayer, God, Children, Depression, Suffering, Social Justice, Henri Nouwen
Harper & Row, 1983
Praise for "Gracias!"
"If every missions major at every Christian college in America read this book before going on a "mission"--this world, and the kingdom of God--would be a much better place." -Joy
"Such humility and grace, to be taught by the poor--it should be required reading. Humbling and beautiful." -Matteson
"Hands down one of the best things I’ve read in a long time. Transformational. Nouwen gives words to living among the poor that I have only ever vaguely grasped at." -Emma