Item 1771 - Creating space to mourn our losses

1 p. of textual records

This item is a half- page article by Henri Nouwen entitled ‘Creating Space to Mourn our Losses’ published in the meditation section of The Catholic New Times, March 29, 1992, p. 3. The item is identified as Part Two of a five-part series featuring the text of a talk by Nouwen for the 25th anniversary of Christian Counselling Services in Toronto. The archives has only the first 3 parts. Nouwen begins by stating ‘ When it is true that we all are healers through the Spirit who lives within us, we are called to create safe spaces to mourn our losses’. Nouwen describes the society we live in as one which does not support weakness, vulnerability, mourning. This, Nouwen suggests, gives rise to secrets, secrets which people hold in and do not share and therefore, do not mourn. ‘The Spirit of God within us says: “Mourn, my people, mourn. Let your pain rise up in your heart and burst forth in you with sobs and cries”’. Nouwen goes on to say that insofar as we allow ourselves to feel our pain ‘Healing starts not where our pain is taken away, but where it can be shared and seen as part of a larger pain.’

Published in Catholic New Times 16, no. 7 (March 29, 1992): 3.
Item is 2nd in a series of 5 articles. Archives only has the first 3 parts of the series. See also Published works series, box 298, items 1769 and 1777.
There is a large black & white reproduction of van Gogh's 'Pollard Willows by the Side of the Road' at the top of the page.
The themes of this article were collected in: Nouwen, Henri, 'Turn My Mourning into Dancing', ed. Timothy Jones, W Publishing Group, 2001.

Added by L Joson, 20 November 2017