Life of the Beloved

Here is a book I purchased to use in my guided study, for which the proposed topic is (roughly) "the disconnect between the body and soul."  The Life of the Beloved was written by Henri Nouwen at the request of one of his secular Jewish friends who asked Nouwen to write a book that "he and his friends could understand."  This little book was the result.

The premise of the book is that we are all beloved by God, and we all are called to live a life that is a testament to that belovedness.  Borrowing from the language of the eucharist, Nouwen expands on how we become the beloved that we are.  First we are taken, or chosen - and this is an identity that we all need to recognize and claim in our own lives.  Next we are blessed, not cursed.  We do not have to live a life as though it is a curse, but we can recognize the blessing within it, and we do this by saying "yes" to our belovedness.  Thirdly, we are broken. We all have been hurt and broken inwardly at some point in our lives.  We respond to this brokenness by befriending it and then bringing blessing into it.  Finally, we are given.  The true flavour of life comes from giving ourselves to others.  When we recognize our belovedness and give ourselves to others, then they too can come to recognize their own belovedness.  The ultimate giving in life is death. 

As far as writing a book that a secular audience could understand, Nouwen himself includes an epilogue at the end admitting that he had failed.  Indeed, there were times where what he was trying to get across went way above even my head, and sometimes I found his language difficult to access.  However, there were times as well where what Nouwen had to say spoke profoundly to me.

"The greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection.... I tend to blame myself - not just for what I did, but for who I am." (31)

"The blessings that we give to each other are expressions of the blessing that rests on us from all eternity.  It is the deepest affirmation of our true self.  It is not enough to be chosen.  We also need an ongoing blessing that allows us to hear in an ever-new way that we belong to a loving God who will never leave us alone, but will remind us always that we are guided by love on every step of our lives." (72)

"Our sufferings and pains are not simply bothersom interruptions of our lives; rather, they touch us in our uniqueness and our most intimate individuality.  The way I am broken tells you something unique about me... I am deeply convinced that each human being suffers in a way no other human being suffers." (87)

Do we want to discuss these quotes?  I fear to say more about them, because they touch a very deep and intimate part of my own life.