The Wounded Healer (Image, 1979)
Henri Nouwen calls those in ministry to articulate the suffering in their own hearts, creating space for the Holy Spirit to enter and leading to the development of compassionate leadership as they recognize their woundedness porvides a common bond for renewed ministry and hospitality to others.
Father Nouwen states that hospitiality embraces two concepts: concentration- the ability to listen to others without interference from one’s own intentions; community- the commonality of shared pain.
This book is concisely written and thought-provoking. Individual sentences could serve as a subject for meditation. One such statement by the author might well serve as the foundational thought for this book: “It is an illusion to think that a person can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there.”
