Item 1760 - Hidden treasures in our lives

5 p. of textual records

This item is a 4 page article by Henri Nouwen entitled, ‘Hidden Treasures in our Lives, published in Praying, by the National Catholic Reporter, Kansas City, Mo., November-December 1990, No. 9, pp. 5 – 8. Nouwen begins by stating that ‘we have been given many treasures’ which sadly are often undiscovered by us. He goes on to identify four treasures in particular: ‘he [Jesus] took, he blessed, he broke, he gave’. 1) Taken. ‘It means we are chosen, that we are called’. Nouwen describes here how difficult for us to accept that we might be chosen, that we might be beloved. 2) Blessed. ‘Jesus is the blessed one and we are blessed as he is’. Here again, Nouwen suggests that it is often very hard for us to accept that we are blessed because we don’t hear it from others often enough. 3)Broken. Nouwen begins by stating that Jesus was broken and is urging us to live our brokenness under the blessing of God. ‘When we embrace our suffering in this way, it is no longer just an interruption in our life, but connects us with all who are suffering , and, further, with the God who is with the suffering…’ 3. Given. Nouwen suggests that as Jesus gave himself in the Last Supper so we are called to give ourselves to the world. He suggests this is to be a total giving not a holding back a portion of ourselves.

Published in Praying, no. 39 (November-December 1990): 4-8.
Item contains a colour image on page 4 representing the information found in the article.
The themes illustrated in this article are elaborated in, Nouwen, Henri: Life of the Beloved, The Crossroad Publishing Company, New York, N.Y., 1992.

Added by L Joson, 20 November 2017