The Spiritual Exercises of Henri Nouwen

In “Home Tonight: Further Reflections on The Parable of the Prodigal Son,” (Doubleday, 2009, $15.95), Nouwen again breaks open the Word and his own heart. He invites readers to do the same.

As in his first book on the subject, “The Return of the Prodigal Son,” published in 1992, he also helps us to read Rembrandt’s painting of the subject as if it were an icon.

Nouwen did not actually get to write this book. He delivered these words in a series of workshops for fellow members of the Daybreak L’Arche community in Canada after returning from a time of solitude away from the community to recover from what he calls a “breakdown,” some three years before writing his first book on the parable. This book is an edited version of his conferences.

The heart of the book is Henri Nou-wen’s exposition of how he finds himself in each of the three main characters of the story: the younger son who leaves home for a life of dissipation, the dutiful, apparently faithful, elder son who is consumed by resentment and the unconditionally loving father.

Typically, gently, wisely, Nouwen, always the “wounded healer,” reveals his own personal struggles and invites us to forthrightly “dis-cover” similar patterns in our own. Ultimately, he guides us to discover how our Father/Mother God finds in each of us the beloved son and daughter upon whom God’s favor rests.

For all this, the most intriguing aspect of the book to me is the use of at least three classic prayer forms demonstrated in the text.

First, and most obvious, is Nouwen’s demonstration of the ancient monastic practice of lectio divina, literally “holy reading.” At its roots, this practice involves four steps: lectio (reading repeatedly), meditatio (mulling over), oratio (prayer of petition) and contemplatio (resting in God).

This is not Bible study. This is praying the words of Scripture until they engulf you, thinking about how they resonate with your own life experience at a deep level, begging God to help you live out of the insight that surfaces for you and finally surrendering all mental and emotional activity into silence and solitude, trusting that God will direct your life.

In our own day, since Pope John Paul II reminded us of the value of Eastern Christianity, praying with icons has become more common. Though Rem-brandt’s “Return of the Prodigal Son” is not an icon, but a painting with a religious theme, Henri Nouwen teaches us, again from his personal experience, how to practice a kind of visual lectio divina with a painting so that the work of art can become, like an icon, a “window into the Divine.”

Finally, each chapter of “Home Tonight” concludes with a series of spiritual exercises, first calling us to listening, to journaling and to communing (again the lectio divina pattern) with the insights of the chapter.

Each chapter concludes with a “Wisdom Practice for those on a Spiritual Journey.” These exercises ask us to thrust ourselves into an element of the parable in a very personal way, reminding one of the place of imagination in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

One caveat: The copy of the Rembrandt provided on the flap of the book is completely inadequate. Do an image search on the web for a clearer view of the painting.

Then go “Home Tonight” where you will know you are beloved.

(Mr. Chura is a local writer, lecturer and retreat director who attends St. John the Baptist Church in Schenectady.)[[In-content Ad]]