Item 1712 - The primacy of the heart

2 p. of textual records

This item is a 2 page article by Henri Nouwen entitled, ‘The Primacy of the Heart’ , published in Expressions by the St. Benedict Center, Madison , Wisconsin, March/April 1987, pp. 1 & 8. This item is taken from Henri Nouwen’s L’Arche journals. Nouwen begins by saying that he had gone to Pere Thomas for spiritual direction, asking for help with his hunger for affection. Nouwen then tries to understand the two hour response he received. Pere Thomas began by identifying our ‘highly psychologized culture [in which] affection has become the central concern’. We feel worthy or not, depending upon other’s response and we become prevented from reaching an inner place of healing which Thomas sees as the heart. Nouwen discusses Thomas’ perception of the mystical life, not as a place for the accomplished spiritual person but as God with us from the beginning of our lives. The heart then ‘ is much wider and deeper than our affections, It is before and beyond the distinctions between sorrow and joy, anger and lust, fear and love. It is the place where all is one in God, the place where we truly belong’.

Published in Expressions (March - April 1987): 1, 8.
This item is published in, Nouwen, Henri: The Road to Daybreak, A Spiritual Journey, Doubleday and Company, N.Y., 1988.

Added by L Joson, 13 November 2017