Spiritual Directions for the Journey
Posted in Henri Nouwen, The Wisdom of... on Oct 8th, 2011
A while back I was involved in a minor way with the publishing of this short but powerful book by one of the spiritual masters of the 20th century. Click here to purchase a copy for someone you know, perhaps yourself, as they travel the road as a caregiver. Here is a summary of this [...]
Posted in Henri Nouwen, This Sunday on Sep 5th, 2011
We are called to be as compassionate as God is compassionate. We are called to follow Jesus’ example as a son – “the younger son without being rebellious” and “the elder son without being resentful.” We are also called to grow into spiritual fatherhood – this means both father and mother, masculine and feminine. All [...]
Posted in The Wisdom of... on Jul 13th, 2011
Posted in Reflections from Fellow Wanderers, This Sunday on Apr 6th, 2011
Death and grief are central themes in this week’s gospel story about the raising of Lazarus. If we have lived to a certain age, and this age differs for all of us, we will have experienced the death of a loved one. In the scene from the Gospel of John movie you can feel the [...]
Posted in Books/Movies/Podcasts for the Road on Mar 12th, 2011
If you are looking for something special this lent I would encourage you to check out the online reading group at the Henri Nouwen Society. It started on March 9th and continues through lent and you can join at anytime. This lent the group is reflecting on Nouwen’s book- Here and Now: Living in the [...]
Posted in Reflections from Fellow Wanderers, Stuff for Wandering on Feb 17th, 2011
I have been thinking about the power of true friendship lately. A friend of mine almost died this week and if it had not been for another one of his friends he would have likely been at home alone when his heart attacked him.He would have certainly been dead if he had not been out [...]
Posted in Henri Nouwen, Reflections from Fellow Wanderers on Jan 19th, 2011
Last night at our St. Patrick’s Friends of Dismas meeting we examined the Elder Son as seen by Henri Nouwen in his book The Return of the Prodigal Son. Nouwen opens up the parable using the famous painting of THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL SON By Rembrandt. At the end of our evening we [...]
Posted in Henri Nouwen, Reflections from Fellow Wanderers on Jan 13th, 2011
In the midst of a crazy week this showed up this morning in my daily meditation from the Henri Nouwen Society. I was talking to a person the other day who also subscribes to these reflections and he was telling me how they are so often on target helping him with the challenges in his [...]
Posted in Henri Nouwen, Reflections from Fellow Wanderers on Jan 7th, 2011
Yesterday I wrote about one of my classmate from high school who passed away too early at 56. Paul’s gift to me was one of friendship and after writing the post yesterday the following shows up in my daily meditation from the Henri Nouwen Society: The Gift of Friendship Friendship is one of the greatest [...]
Posted in Tweet of the Week on Nov 20th, 2010
Even though the source for this quote is long since dead and lived a life of some controversy within the French Church of his day, I love this quote. This week we see Jesus as a completely different kind of king. He has no concern for money or power- only for his people. In Luke’s [...]
Posted in Tweet of the Week on Nov 6th, 2010
It has been a Merton filled week for me. I am a fortunate “itinerant” in that I get invited to many exciting places and am afforded the opportunity to listen to other wanderers that have spent a good deal of their time learning about interesting people like Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen. Pursuant to one [...]
Posted in Books/Movies/Podcasts for the Road, Reflections from Fellow Wanderers, Stuff for Wandering on Oct 20th, 2010
Last Monday the St. Patrick’s Friends of Dismas group kicked off a study of the best selling book by Henri Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son- A Story of Homecoming. The theme of the first evening was- Encounter the Painting. The painting in question is Rembrandt’s famous portrayal of the parable which was one [...]
Posted in Henri Nouwen on Oct 17th, 2010
This year at our Friends of Dismas monthly meetings at St. Patrick’s in Markham, we will be using Henri Nouwen’s best selling book- The Return of the Prodigal Son. In this story Nouwen uses Rembrandt’s painting of the parable as a way to examine our own journey from brokenness to understanding that we too are [...]
Posted in Henri Nouwen, Reflections from Fellow Wanderers on Oct 6th, 2010
It has been a difficult few weeks for many of my friends at the Dismas Fellowship. While we may wrestle with where we are and where events may take us, I offer this thought from Henri as food for thought and encouragement. Let us not lose sight of the reality that the most ordinary of [...]
Posted in Henri Nouwen, This Sunday on Sep 11th, 2010
Nouwen says the painting just as easily could have been called “The Welcome by the Compassionate Father.” In the painting, the father’s hands are the true central point. The light and the eyes of others focus on those hands. The left hand is masculine while the right hand is more feminine. So the character “is [...]
