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University of St. Michael's College, John M. Kelly Library, Special Collections
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Zeige mir den weg: texte fur alle tage von aschermittwoch bis ostern

Item consists of a book written by Nouwen containing excerpts from his previously published writings. The translated title is: Show Me the Way : Readings for Each Day of Lent. The 40-day Lenten path includes readings for Ash Wednesday, the four weeks of Lent, Passion Week, Holy Week, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.

You can go home again

This item is a two page article by Henri Nouwen entitled ‘You can go home again’, published in Salt: for Christians who seek social justice’ by the Claretians, Vol. 12, No. 4, April 1992, pp. 29 – 30. This article is identified as excerpts from Nouwen’s forthcoming book The Return of the Prodigal Son. Nouwen begins the article by describing his first encounter with Rembrandt’s painting and his powerful response to it coming as it was at a vulnerable time for Nouwen. Nouwen then goes on to write of the biblical story from which the painting and Nouwen’s writing is coming. Nouwen relates the story of the younger son and Nouwen’s own sense of finding himself in the story. ‘Over and over again I have left home. I have fled the hands of blessing and run off to faraway places searching for love! This is the great tragedy of my life and of the lives of so many I meet on my journey’. Nouwen concludes, ‘ Here the mystery of my life is unveiled. I am loved so much that I am left free to leave home. But the Father is always looking for me with outstretched arms to receive me back…’

Working for peace: saying 'yes' to life and 'no' to death

This item is a 2 page article by Henri Nouwen entitled, ‘Working for Peace’ published in The Lutheran, Vol. 24, No. 5, March 5, 1986, pp. 10- 11. This item is identified as Part III of a 3 part series and taken from the New Oxford Review. Nouwen begins by saying, ‘As peacemakers we must have the courage to see the powers of death at work even in our innermost selves…’. Nouwen writes of his own struggle to accept himself as loved and forgiven by God and the difficulty that creates for him to grow as a peacemaker. Nouwen describes the forces of self-rejection as forces of death. He then states that ‘a loving heart that continues to affirm life at all times and places can say ‘no’ to death without being corrupted by it. Nouwen then goes on to write of the importance of resisting the forces of death in our society in whatever way seems right. Nouwen concludes ‘ Prayer and resistance, the two pillars of Christian peacemaking, are two interlocking ways of giving expression to the peace we have found in the dwelling place of God’.

Working for peace: saying "no" to death requires saying "yes" to life

This item is a 3 page article by Henri Nouwen entitled ‘Working for Peace’ published in The Church Herald of the Reformed Church in America, Vol. XLIII, No. 18, October 18, 1986, pp. 11 – 13. This is identified as the second of two articles on Peacemaking. Nouwen opens the article by stating, ‘ As peacemakers we must have the courage to see the powers of death at work even in our innermost selves…’Nouwen speaks of that within us which does not accept ourselves and that this is ‘one of the greatest enemies of the peacemaker’. Nouwen speaks of the central message of the Gospel which is that we are forgiven and this truth can help us overcome our fear of ourselves and of others. Nouwen writes of the need to resist, resist the forces of death and to affirm life. He speaks of the need for joy even in the face of pain. Nouwen concludes by saying, ‘Prayer cannot be fruitful unless it brings us into a new and creative relationship with people. Resistance cannot be fruitful unless it deepens and strengthens our relationship with God. Prayer and Resistance, the two pillars of Christian peacemaking…’This item is a 3 page article by Henri Nouwen entitled ‘Working for Peace’ published in The Church Herald of the Reformed Church in America, Vol. XLIII, No. 18, October 18, 1986, pp. 11 – 13. This is identified as the second of two articles on Peacemaking. Nouwen opens the article by stating, ‘ As peacemakers we must have the courage to see the powers of death at work even in our innermost selves…’Nouwen speaks of that within us which does not accept ourselves and that this is ‘one of the greatest enemies of the peacemaker’. Nouwen speaks of the central message of the Gospel which is that we are forgiven and this truth can help us overcome our fear of ourselves and of others. Nouwen writes of the need to resist, resist the forces of death and to affirm life. He speaks of the need for joy even in the face of pain. Nouwen concludes by saying, ‘Prayer cannot be fruitful unless it brings us into a new and creative relationship with people. Resistance cannot be fruitful unless it deepens and strengthens our relationship with God. Prayer and Resistance, the two pillars of Christian peacemaking…’

With burning hearts: a meditation on the eucharistic life

Item consists of a book written by Nouwen in Chobham, England and Sacramento, California and is about the Eucharist and the Eucharistic life. The book has been divided into the following: Acknowledgments; Introduction; The Road to Emmaus; I. Mourning Our Losses "Lord, Have Mercy"; II. Discerning the Presence "This Is the Word of God"; III. Inviting the Stranger "I Believe"; IV. Entering into Communion "Take and Eat"; V. Going on a Mission "Go and Tell"; Conclusion.
As is stated on the front flap: ". . . . With Burning Hearts seeks a fuller understanding of Eucharist through the story of the disciples on their way to Emmaus from Jerusalem after the crucifixion (Luke 24: 13-35)."

Wisdom of emptiness

This item is a half-page article by Henri Nouwen entitled, ‘Wisdom in Emptiness’ published in the National Catholic Reporter, October 4, 1974, p. 11. Nouwen begins the article by stating that most people need constant occupation and without it are restless and feel useless. He says ‘Being busy, active and on the move has nearly become part of our constitution’. Nouwen goes on to state ‘this is why silence is such a difficult task’. He suggests that occupation and preoccupation are our ’fearful ways to keep things the same’…’we hold on to the familiar life items which we have collected in the past’. Nouwen uses as an example of this a story by Carlos Castaneda and the story of Jesus’ exhortation that we should ‘not worry …your heavenly father knows what you need’. Nouwen concludes by saying, ‘ Conversion is an inner event that cannot be planned or organized, but needs to develop from within. Just as you cannot force a plant to grow, but can take away the weeds and stones which prevent its development, so you can… offer the space where such a conversion can take place’.

Why I came to L'Arche

This item is a half-page article by Henri Nouwen entitled ‘Why I came to L’Arche’, published in Scarboro Missions, by The Scarboro Foreign Missions Society, April 1987, Vol. 68, No. 4, p. 22. Nouwen briefly discusses his journey to the L’Arche community of Daybreak at Richmond Hill, On. He describes his time at Yale and Harvard and his sense that ‘I wasn’t living fully what I was speaking about’. Nouwen speaks of his contact with Jean Vanier and his eventual decision to try to live the community life of L’Arche.

Why Are You Going to the Trappists?: An Interview with Henri Nouwen

Item consists of an interview of Henri Nouwen by Parker Rossman. Rossman asks Nouwen questions about his choice to go to a Trappist monastery while on his sabbatical from Yale Divinity School. The interview is titled "Why Are You Going to the Trappists? An Interview with Henri Nouwen."

Wheat Fields [Helen Albright]

File consists of 1 chapbook containing prose by Helen Albright and multi-coloured illustrations by Deborah Barnett.

The colophon states:

"Designed and produced at Dreadnaught
24 Sussex Avenue, Toronto Canada

Illustrated by Deborah Barnett

Handset in Monotype Garamont
and handprinted on Monadnock Caress

500 copies, September 1980"

'What do you know by heart?': learning spirituality

This item is a 3 page article by Henri Nouwen entitled, “‘What do you know by heart?’: Learning Spirituality”, published in Sojourners, August , 1977, pp. 14 – 16. Nouwen begins this article outlining his theme by using a story which he says ‘expresses in a simple but powerful way the importance of spiritual formation in theological education’. Nouwen then goes on to speak of the inadequacy in theological studies of ‘head’ knowledge. What is also needed he says is ‘heart’ knowledge; spiritual formation. Nouwen suggests three themes which he says are important in the context of theological education: Lectio Divina, silence and guidance. By Lectio he means the prayerful, meditative reading of scripture. By silence he suggests the ground for the word to bear fruit. He says, ‘In silence the word of scripture can be received and meditated on.’ Nouwen talks of guidance as the need for someone competent to help the student through the pitfalls of spiritual formation. Nouwen then goes on to stress in addition that ‘Christian spirituality is in essence communal’. ‘All of this suggests strongly that spiritual formation in theological education includes ongoing formation in community life’. Nouwen sees the need then for emphasis on the communal in classroom, worship, and responsibility for one another. He says, ‘So spiritual life is always communal. It flows from community and it creates community’. Nouwen concludes the article by stressing the role of the Holy Spirit in all spiritual life and ends with the following conclusion:’ Spiritual formation gives us a free heart able to see the face of God in the midst of a hardened world and allows us to use our skills to make that face visible to all who live in darkness’.

Whale Sound

File consists of 1 clothbound hardcover edition of Whale Sound: An Anthology of Poems about Whales and Dolphins, edited by Greg Gatenby, and 1 corresponding prospectus. The volume is housed in a clothbound clamshell box and printed on hand torn, deckle-edged paper using a flat-bed cylinder press. Illustrations inside the volume were made from zinc and copper engravings. The prospectus notes that all profits from the sale of the anthology will be donated to Greenpeace. This edition is signed by Gatenby.

The colophon for the volume provides further elaboration:

"Published, designed & produced at
Dreadnaught
24 Sussex Avenue Toronto Canada, from January to June 1977.

The type is monotype Cochin & Goudy Open;
the text paper handmade in France at the mill of Richard de Bas;
film & engravings for the illustrations by Bomac Batten;
the binding materials Holliston Sailcloth
& paper handmade by the printer.

Of an edition of
100 copies signed by the editor
this is number 66"

The prospectus lists the 56 poets and 30 artists who contributed to the anthology:

The Poets

Milton Acorn
Bert Almon
George Amabile
Margaret Atwood
bill bissett
George Bowering
Marilyn Bowering
C.M. Buckaway
Mick Burrs
Ken Cathers
Wayne Clifford
John Robert Colombo
David Day
Pier Giorgio Di Cicco
Lois Ellis
Robert Finch
Judith Fitzgerald
Pnina Gagnon
Eldon Garnet
Greg Gatenby
Gary Geddes
C.H. Gervais
Artie Gold
Elizabeth Gourlay
Tom Howe
Peter Huston
Marvyne Jenoff
Hans Jewinski
Terry Kelly
Jan Kemp
Travis Lane
Scott Lawrance
Irving Layton
Dorothy Livesay
Gwen MacEwen
Jay MacPherson
Robin Mathews
Seymour Mayne
Steve McCaffery
Kenneth McRobbie
Rona Murray
Susan Musgrave
Richard Outram
P.K. Page
Craig Powell
E.J. Pratt
Janis Rapoport
Joe Rosenblatt
Allan Safarik
Joseph Sherman
Peter Such
Andrew suknaski
Fraser Sutherland
Robert Sward
Tom Wayman
Phyllis Webb

The Artists

Erica Abt
Michaele Berman
David Campbell
Robert Daigneault
Ken Danby
Barbara Howard
Robert Jordan
William Kurelek
Les Levine
Naoko Matsubara
Tom McNeely
Betty Mochizuki
Suzanne Mogensen
Frieda Nelson
Toni Onley
Charles Pachter
Walter Redinger
Bill Reid
Joe Rosenthal
Bob Snider
Michael Snow
Ken Stampnick
Shizuye Takashima
Art Thompson
Harold Town
Tony Urquhart
Florence Vale
M. Vaughn-James
Susana Wald
Ludwig Zeller

The volume also includes lithographs, engravings, and drawings of whales and dolphins throughout history.

Week four: cost of discipleship

This item is a series of excerpts from the works of Henri Nouwen published in: ‘Renew, Season IV, Our Lady of Providence, no earlier than 1976, pp. 9 – 10, 12 – 13, 16. The first series of excerpts entitled ‘The Cost of Discipleship’ from Nouwen, Henri, With Open Hands, outlines the dangers of being a disciple who speaks truth. ‘You are Christians only so long as you look forward to a new world, so long as you constantly pose critical questions to the society you live in…so long as you stay unsatisfied with the status quo…The excerpt goes on to suggest that the one who lives like this, as Jesus lived, will be persecuted but will bring new life. The second series of excerpts from Nouwen, Henri, Out of Solitude is entitled, 'Healing of the Disciple'. In this section the focus of the excerpts is on the importance of curing and caring. Nouwen suggests that curing without caring, without entering the pain of the other ‘is as dehumanizing as a gift given with a cold heart’. The third series of excerpts is also from Out of Solitude and is entitled, 'Mission of the Disciple'. The first excerpt begins ‘Every human being has a great, yet often unknown gift to care, to be compassionate, to become present to the other, to listen, to hear and to receive’. Nouwen goes on to suggest that we do not use these gifts to their fullest because we avoid the vulnerability involved. The item concludes with Nouwen stating, ‘By honest recognition and confession of our human sameness we can participate in the care of God who came, not to the powerful but powerless, not to be different but the same, not to take our pain away but to share it. Through this participation we can open our hearts to each other and form a new community’.

We must trust that every true friendship has no end

This item is a half-page article by Henri Nouwen entitled, ‘We must trust that every true friendship has no end’, published in the Clergy Column of The Liberal, Sept. 13, 1989. This article was later published in Nouwen’s book ‘The Inner Voice of Love, the chapter entitled, ‘Be a Real Friend’. Nouwen opens by stating, ‘Many of our friendships come from our need for affection, affirmation and emotional support. But this need often makes us lean so heavily on others that they become overwhelmed by our demands and run away in fear and confusion’. Nouwen goes on to suggest that healthy friendship comes when we accept ourselves as deeply loved by God.

We Meet Here to Work [Pierre Elliot]

File consists of 1 chapbook containing an inaugural address given by Pierre Elliot, Director of Studies, to attendees of the Claymont Third Course in 1978. The chapbook was produced by Dreadnaught Press for the Claymont Society, a spiritual retreat and educational center in Charles Town, West Virginia.

The colophon states:

"Design and produced at Dreadnaught
24 Sussex Avenue, Toronto Canada

Handset in Cochin and Goudy Light, and handprinted
on Caress text and Strathmore Grandee cover papers
in an edition of 500 copies
June 1978"

We have received more

This item is a 1/3 column article by Henri Nouwen entitled, ‘ We have received more’, published in ‘The Link and Visitor’, Vol. 62, No. 1, January 1989, p. 7. This item is an excerpt from an article published in Sojourners Magazine, July, 1985. Nouwen begins by stating, ‘People with mental handicaps are able to give much to those who are able to receive. They give their hearts’. Nouwen then goes on to describe the flourishing, fruit-bearing life the handicapped person lives when they live in a loving environment and the suffering and withdrawal when they are rejected. Nouwen concludes, ‘ They told me in many ways that I didn’t need to be afraid of my handicap, that I could also bear fruit as Jesus did when He offered His broken body to God.

We drink from our own wells

This item is a 4 page book review by Henri Nouwen published in America magazine, October 15, 1983, pp.205 – 208. Nouwen is reviewing a book by Gustavo Gutierrez entitled ‘We Drink From Our Own Wells: The Spiritual Journey of a People’ and that is also the title of the review. Nouwen opens the review by noting Gutierrez’ earlier book entitled ‘A Theology of Liberation’ which he suggests ‘soon became a charter for many Latin American theologians and pastoral workers’. Nouwen then goes on to describe this new book as ‘the nuanced articulation the Christ-encounter as experienced by the poor of Latin America in their struggle to affirm their human dignity and claim their true identity as sons and daughters of God’. Nouwen then goes on to describe his own personal experience of hearing Gutierrez speak before this book was written and his sense of the effect of his spirituality on those who were working for the poor in Latin America. Nouwen quotes Gutierrez “Poverty means death” and goes on to describe what this involves, ‘This death is not only physical but mental and cultural as well. It refers to the destruction of individual persons, peoples, cultures and traditions’. Nouwen then outlines three aspects of the spirituality of liberation described in the book: 1) that it is impossible to reduce liberation theology to a political movement, 2) that it is Christ-centered and 3) that is drawn from the concrete daily experiences of the Christian communities in Latin America. Nouwen states toward the conclusion, ‘When Gustavo Gutierrez points to freedom as the goal of a spirituality of liberation, he connects the struggle of the people of Latin America with the spiritual struggle of all the great Christians throughout the centuries’. Nouwen concludes the review with a re-iteration of his own sense that the spiritual destinies of the Americas are closely linked.

Walk with Jesus: stations of the cross

Item consists of a book of reflections, in response to Sister Helen David's illustrations of the Stations of the Cross, written by Nouwen mainly during a three-and-a-half week stay at York Central Hospital in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Nouwen was hit by the rear view mirror of a passing van resulting in his stay at hospital. The book has been divided into the following: Acknowledgments; Preface; Introduction: I Walk With Jesus; I. Jesus is Condemned; II. Jesus Carries His Cross; III. Jesus Falls for the First Time; IV. Jesus Meets Mary; V. Simon Helps Jesus Carry His Cross; VI. Jesus Meets Veronica; VII. Jesus Falls for the Second Time; VIII. Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem; IX. Jesus Falls for the Third Time; X. Jesus is Stripped; XI. Jesus is Nailed to the Cross; XII. Jesus Dies on the Cross; XIII. Jesus is Taken from the Cross; XIV. Jesus is laid into the Grave; XV. Jesus Rises from the Dead; Concluding Prayer.
As is stated on the back cover: ". . . . This book of meditations by Henri Nouwen, inspired by a series of drawings by Sr. Helen David, represents traditional Stations of the Cross through the passion and suffering of the world's poor. . . . In these images Nouwen sees the ongoing passion of Christ."

Wacht even -- luister

Item consists of an article which features a quote from Nouwen within a paragraph titled "Stilte."

"Vieren van elkaar": in gesprek met Henri Nouwen

Item consists of an interview titled "Vieren van elkaar" ["Celebrating together"]. Item also includes Nouwen's handwritten notes that he made during the interview. The notes include his drawings of the time-line and a wagon-wheel like figure with a dark centre.

Van Gogh and God: a creative spiritual quest

Item consists of a book in which Nouwen has written the foreword, stating in part: "I am deeply grateful that Van Gogh and God has been written and I am convinced that those who read it will find in Vincent a lasting spiritual companion."

Unchanged by the world

This item is a half-page article by Henri Nouwen entitled, ‘Unchanged by the World’ published in Sojourners, August-September, 1991, Vol. 20, No. 7, pp. 28/29. This volume of Sojourners is noted as being the ‘20th Anniversary Issue’ and Nouwen’s article is referencing that. Nouwen opens the article by stating that the life and work of Sojourners reminds him of the little boy who asked the prophet ‘Dear Prophet, why do you keep prophesying when nobody listens to your words and when nobody changes their lives? The remainder of the article suggests that it is Sojourners future role ‘to keep calling its readers to live the brokenness of the world and their own brokenness under the blessing.’

Unceasing prayer

This item is a 6 page article by Henri Nouwen entitled ‘Unceasing Prayer’, published in the journal, America, July29/Aug 5, 1978, pp. 46 -51. Nouwen begins by suggesting that we tend to think of prayer as one of many things we do. He then points to St Paul’s exhortation that we ‘pray unceasingly’. Nouwen then identifies what he sees as the goal of this article: ‘I propose to look at unceasing prayer as the conversion of our unceasing thought processes. My central question therefore is: “How can we turn our perpetual mental activities into perpetual prayer?” Or, to put it more simply: How can thinking become praying?’ Nouwen moves on to discuss in the first section his understanding of human thought processes and states ‘I have been wondering if we ever do not think?’ He speaks of reflective, non-reflective and dream thinking. Nouwen points to the great value of thinking to human beings and then moves in the next section to say, ‘This unceasing thinking, which lies at the core of our humanity, needs to be converted slowly but persistently into unceasing prayer’. Nouwen’s first suggestion is that unceasing prayer cannot be a constant thinking about God. ‘To pray, I think, does not primarily mean to think about God in contrast to thinking about other things, or to spend time with God instead of spending time with other people. Rather, it means to think and live in the presence of God’. Nouwen follows this by suggesting that prayer cannot be introspection but it must look outward, a conversation with God, where nothing is hidden. In Nouwen’s final section he suggests that to live this life of prayer requires the development of a certain discipline. He then describes in some detail one type of discipline that can be helpful. Nouwen concludes the article by stating, Paul’s words …about unceasing prayer might at first have seemed demanding and unrealistic. Perhaps, we can now see that they can be the source of an ever increasing joy’.

Trying to avoid temptations when among the famous & successful: on not being distracted by power & wealth

This item is a 6 page article by Henri Nouwen entitled, ‘Trying to Avoid Temptations when among the Famous and Successful’, published in New Oxford Review, June 1987, pp. 9 – 14. This item is the ninth installment in a series of articles reflecting on the year Nouwen spent at L’Arche, Trosley Breuil, France, 1985/6. The items in this installment cover dates from April 26 – May 22, 1986. The first two entries are reflections on the day’s gospel readings: asking in Jesus’ name and Jesus as the vine and the pruning of the branches. Nouwen speaks of the suffering of the pruning process ‘but they need to be cut away so that more fruit can grow’. He goes on to say, ‘The great challenge is to continue to recognize God’s pruning hand in my life’. The next item is written on Ascension day and Nouwen writes of the way this L’Arche community celebrates it. He describes the key points of a talk given by Jean Vanier on peacemaking. Nouwen then speaks of his busyness and yet his sense that he is accomplishing nothing. The remaining items cover a trip he then made to Boston, New York, Pittsburgh and Washington to visit friends and to give talks. Nouwen writes of the stress and anxiety he experiences in his friends and his desire that they should see another way of living that he himself has found in L’Arche. Nouwen meets in this trip some he calls ‘the rich and the powerful’ including Murray McDonnell in New York and members of the United States Senate in Washington and their thirst to hear about Jesus, ‘Give us a word from God, speak to us about Jesus…do not stay away from the rich who are so poor…’. Nouwen in one entry reflects on what ‘welcoming a little child in my name means’. Finally, Nouwen writes of being asked to give the commencement address at a Presbyterian Seminary. When he speaks with the seminarians he is surprised to hear them speaking more like professional businessmen than ministers. ‘When I asked them how important Jesus was for them, they said there was a tendency to speak more about God than about Jesus’. Nouwen determines that he will speak of Jesus in his address. At the commencement ceremony Nouwen meets two old friends, Fred Rogers also known as Mr Rogers and John Fife a co-founder of the sanctuary movement.

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