Henri Nouwen is one of those authors whom I have heard praised for many years, but have never gotten around to reading. His biography — an accomplished intellectual and Catholic priest who left the academy in order to live in a L’Arche community with developmentally disabled adults (influenced by his friend and fellow Catholic intellectual, Jean Vanier) — has long struck me as compelling, but until this year, the only thing I had read by him was a short booklet called “A Spirituality of Fundraising,” which InterVarsity encourages staff to read. The booklet has often given me comfort and strength during difficult stretches of funding work, but for some reason, I had never been motivated to seek out any of his longer works.
Somewhat randomly, I claimed an old copy of Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life from my church library’s discard pile last fall. I began reading it a couple of weeks ago. I had expected it to be good, but I hadn’t expected it to speak so directly to some of the emotional and spiritual struggles I have occasionally faced, and which some of you may be facing as well.
Do you find graduate school or faculty life to be lonely? When you have experienced loneliness, how have you dealt with it emotionally and spiritually?
The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life
What are the three movements referred to in the title? [Read more…] about Henri Nouwen: From Loneliness to Solitude