Volume I - Edition VII
Enjoy reading news items, articles, inspirational quotations and ideas of personal interest
Guest Article written for the Henri Nouwen Society:
On the Journey
Toward Faithfulness
written by JAN DAVIS
Each December I
receive in the mail a box of
redbirds from Tom. There might
be figurines, placemats,
bookends, coffee mugs - all with
emblems of redbirds. Tom collects
redbirds all year long. Whenever he
sees one, it is a reminder to him of
a moment of grace in 1994 when he
was touched by something I said. He
attends to his inner voice of
gratitude for my story of a redbird
by returning faithfully to that
memory and returning to me a gift of
redbirds.
Remaining faithful to a memory may
be very difficult. Because memories
are so abstract, we often are
seduced by a sense of false
responsibility into thinking that by
returning to them we are being
faithful. Our walkabout life
challenges us to be faithful to
spouses, employers, political
parties, and various commitments. I
recently heard a prayer for "the
grace to remain faithful so long as
it is not harmful." How many people
knowingly remain in abusive
situations under the false guise of
being faithful!
Being faithful doesn't have to be
difficult or heroic. Rather, in
silence and solitude we might simply
remember that moment when we were
first touched by God. Our deep
yearning faithfully draws us back to
that place where we were touched.
But it is a tender place. In Henri
Nouwen's secret journal, he invites
us to awaken our dormant desire and
open to the God who loves us with
the first love, that which precedes
all human love. Remember.
JAN DAVIS, D.Min, is an
active contemplative who lives in
San Antonio, Texas. She leads parish
missions and spiritual retreats. She
is a Benedictine Oblate and
spiritual director. Jan is married,
the mother of two sons, and
grandmother of two grandsons.
"On the
Journey Towards
Faithfulness" first appeared
as a Weekly Reflection
eLetter from
www.HenriNouwen.org
on December
8, 2006
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