January 2010 The Road to Daybreak A Spiritual Journey by Henri J M Nouwen

Continue from ...... Good News from Daybreak Sue Mosteller arrived with good news from Daybreak: Raymond left the intensive care unit, Rose's surgery went well, and both are on their way to recovery. She also brought kind words with her from DJ and from Ray's family. With Sue, I experienced great joy at this victory over the power of death and I was reminded of the words of the prophet Ezekiel: "Why die, house of Israel? I take no pleasure in the death of anyone … so repent and live" (Ezekiel 18:32). True Amateurs Jonas and I are having an important week together. We are busy visiting foyers, workshops, and specialists. It feels to me like showing a foreigner my hometown and discovering it myself in the process! Because Jonas raises questions, notices events, and makes comparisons differently from me, he has uncovered a different L'Arche from what I had seen so far. To Jonas, a psychologist in a large institution for handicapped people, L'Arche is a place where the professional distance that allows people to heal others without getting entangled in their many problems is less visible, even absent. L'Arche might at first seem somewhat amateurish to a professional. Still, the word "amateur" is a word we must recover; it suggests a way to understand the true nature of this distance. The word comes from amare, which is Latin for "to love." Life at L'Arche is built upon love, not simply for handicapped people, but for the God of life revealed to us in Jesus Christ, the rejected man of Nazareth. It is a love based upon the knowledge of the heart, a deep conviction that "nothing, neither death nor life, nor angel, nor price, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, nor any power or height or depth, nor any created thing can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:38-39). This love is much more than an emotion or feeling. It is rooted in the fact of God's unlimited love for us. It is this love which allows us to be deeply involved with the suffering of the world without being swallowed up by it. It is this love which enables us to listen to the howls and cries of handicapped people without being possessed by them. It is this love which allows us to be very close without ever losing the distance necessary for us to live healthy, joyful, and peaceful lives.

- To Be Continued - © Copyright Shalom 2010. All rights reserved.