Our Greatest Gift
A Meditation on Dying & Caring
One of the best-loved spiritual masters of our time—an author ranked with C.S. Lewis and Thomas Merton—Henry J.M. Nouwen, takes a moving, personal look at human mortality in Our Greatest Gift. A meditation on dying and caring, Our Greatest Gift gently and eloquently reveals the gifts that the living and dying can give to one another. The beloved bestselling author of With Open Hands, The Wounded Healer, and Making All Things New shares his own experiences with aging, loss, grief, and fear in this important and life-altering work.
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“…a very comforting book. …Nouwen offers us here a gentle, almost meditative book on coming to terms with death.” – Publishers Weekly
“It’s a new way of looking at death, one with an upside.” – Miami Herald
“Henri Nouwen challenges us to accept our death as part of our spiritual journey, not its end. …Nouwen continues to be a must read.” – Capital Times
Translations available in: Italian, Korean, Polish, Indonesian, Dutch, German
More About this Book
This book was written in 1993 shortly after the death of Maurice Gould, one of the core members of L’Arche Daybreak. Henri wrote the book on a short sabbatical from Daybreak in the 3rd floor apartment of his friends Franz and Remy Johna in Freiburg, Germany. The book is in two parts: Dying Well and Caring Well. The section on Dying Well is about befriending our death, preparing for our death and growing in communion with all of humanity. The section on Caring Well is about accepting our own death so we can care for others in mutuality rather than fear.
Themes: Death and Dying, Aging, the Spiritual Life, Second childhood, Freedom, Dependence, His van accident (becoming like a child), Maturity, Being heirs, Twins in womb story, Olympics, March to Selma, Differences, Sameness, Communion, Solidarity, Good death, Human togetherness, Vulnerability, Weakness, Joy, Hope, Facing our own death, Marina Nouwen-San Giorgi, Becoming the parent of future generations, Jesus, The Spirit of God, Fruitfulness, Brother Lawrence, From doing to being, AIDS, Love is stronger than death, Caring for the dying, People with handicaps, Maurice “Moe” Gould, Choice/Choosing, Medical systems in a capitalist economy, Belovedness, Self-rejection, Mary, Receiving love, Community, Flying Rodleighs, Dying is trusting the catcher, Visiting a grave with Sally Tucker, Graves in Geysteren, His Mother’s grave, His Mother’s presence in death, The world, God-with-us, Sin, Redemption, Mortality, Isenheimer Altar (Colmar, France), Human solidarity, Consolation, The Blue Planet (movie), Basic unity of all people on earth, Connie Ellis, The passion of Jesus, St. Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther, John Henry Newman, Therese de Lisieux, Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Merton, John XXII, Dag Hammarskjold, Dorothy Day (HN’s list of holy people), Meals, The resurrection of Jesus, His father’s remarks about dying and life after death, Faith, Pere Thomas Phillipe
Harper One, 1994
Reviews for "Our Greatest Gift"
"A short and profound look at what it means to embrace our mortality, learning to both die well and care for the dying well." -Brielle
"I cannot think about a better book to give to yourself and others. If you are a caregiver or preparing to be one, read this book. If you are losing or have lost a loved one, read this book." -Karina
"I have been a pastor for many many years, but this book made me think about death in a whole new way. I highly recommend it." -Rick