Item 1752 - Prayer and health care

0.2 cm of textual records

This item is an 11 page article by Henri Nouwen entitled, ‘Prayer and Health Care’, published in Review by the Catholic Health Association of Canada, Vol. 17, No. 4, Winter 1989, pp.5 – 16. This article is adapted from a lecture given by Nouwen for the CHAC’s 50th anniversary Day of Celebration, October 25, 1989 in Ottawa, ON. Nouwen begins by reminding his audience of the talk he gave 12 years previously on compassion and indicates that he would now like to speak on the source of compassion: prayer. Nouwen begins by writing about Jesus’ prayer which is the source of Jesus’ life-giving ministry. ‘Every aspect of Jesus’ ministry, every word, every action and every detail of his own journey bespeaks life…’ Nouwen states that from his prayer of listening Jesus understands he is the beloved and that he wants us to know that we are also. ‘Jesus wants each of us to be just as much a child of God as he is himself’. Nouwen then goes on to describe the stresses and pressures that prevent us from being able to hear the God who desires us and our need, over time, to turn to God, to live our lives for God. Nouwen then goes on to speak about freedom which will come from prayer as we learn to listen, to move away from obsessions and compulsions, to say ‘no’ to death forces. The last half of the article speaks about the discipline of prayer in three ways: discipline of the mind, discipline of the heart, and discipline of the body. Nouwen concludes by stating, ‘ …I call all of you to be men and women of prayer, men and women truly belonging to God, men and women who at every moment of your existence and every part of yourselves will give life, not in your own name, but in the name Him who said, “I come to bring life…” Folder also contains a loose leaf photocopy of the article with annotations.

Published in CHAC Review 17, no. 4 (winter 1989): 5-7, 9-16.
On p. 15 there is a small black & white photo of Henri Nouwen with David Gray of Daybreak.

Added by L Joson, 15 November 2017
Revised by T Wong, 22 February 2022