Henri Nouwen Lonely Mystic: A new portrait of Henri J.M. Nouwen
by Michael Ford (Paulist Press, $16.95 / £12.99)
Anthony Redmond
What is the reason for the enduring appeal of Henri Nouwen? This Dutch Catholic priest and celebrated spiritual writer died in 1996 at the age of 64. His appeal, for me, is his vulnerability, openness, sensitivity and constant search for love and understanding.
I can think of no better author than Michael Ford to write a biography of Henri Nouwen. Michael Ford wrote his PhD on Nouwen, and in 1999 published an excellent, much acclaimed biography of the priest entitled Wounded Prophet.
Henri was a sensitive man, who craved affection. Nothing was too much trouble for him when it came to his friends. He expected and longed for complete trust and loyalty in return. He could be easily hurt and disappointed.
This theme of friendship permeated his life and his writing. He experienced God’s loving presence through the prism of caring human relationships. He said: “True friendships are lasting because true love is eternal. A friendship in which heart speaks to heart is a gift from God…love between people, when given by God, is stronger than death. In this sense, true friendships continue beyond the boundary of death. When you have loved deeply that love can grow even stronger after the death of the person you love. This is the core message of Jesus…dare to love and be a real friend.
“The love you give and receive is a reality that will lead you closer to God as well as to those whom God has given you to love.”
Integrity
Henri Nouwen was gay, but he didn’t reveal this publically and he was afraid that this fact might be used to discredit his work or personal integrity. He lived a celibate life as a priest, but he experienced deep inner struggles in coming to terms with the reality of his sexual orientation. He confided his pain and struggles to just a few trusted close friends.
Michael Ford interviewed many close friends, family and confidants of Henri. He paints a deeply sympathetic and truthful picture of this profoundly spiritual, prayerful man.
Indeed, reading Lonely Mystic one feels an affinity with Henri’s vulnerability and all-too-human need for love and affirmation.
In a letter to a friend in July 1996, just two months before his untimely death, he writes: “My sexuality will remain a great source of suffering to me until I die. I don’t think there’s any ‘solution’. The pain is truly ‘mine’ and I have to own it. Any ‘relational solution’ will be a disaster. I feel deeply called by God to live my vows well even when it means a lot of pain. But I trust that the pain will be fruitful.”
On this Michael Ford says: “It was none other than Carl Jung who observed that homosexual people were often endowed with an abundance of religious feelings, which made them responsive to revelation. He said they also had a natural propensity towards the intuitive, helping them to bring about the ecclesia spiritualis.”
Former monk Robert Durack, who compiled the Nouwen anthology Seeds of Hope, told Michael Ford that Henri was a Christ figure if he ever met one, a truly saintly man. He said he was very much configured to Christ.
Ford adds: “To some, this assessment may appear hagiographic, but I must confess that, when I wrote my account of meeting Henri Nouwen for the first and only time, I found myself using similar language. It was not my usual response to an interviewee, even one I admired.”
Spiritual
It is clear that Michael Ford is a contemplative, spiritual person himself, and his perceptive analysis of Henri Nouwen truly brings him to life. The sixth chapter of Lonely Mystic is my favourite and it discusses Henri’s yearning for love and belonging.
Michael Ford writes: “There can be no hesitation that Henri was an authentic spiritual leader, not only in terms of his writings, but also in the light of his faithfulness to God through all his emotional trials and dark episodes. In terms of his struggles, he might well be comparable to mystics like St John of the Cross or St Therese of Lisieux; he was inspirational to the end in the way he stayed in the thick of his difficulties and never fled.
“With the most generous of spirits,” Ford continues, “he had the outer conviction and inner authority to announce a message of love and healing to a broken world – and he did it despite his highly strung, tense and nervous temperament, which he knew was all part of his own paradox. Many people suggested to me that Henri was a saint – all my research and intuition confirm that he was – but he side-stepped any form of spiritual adulation and was much more aware of his failings.”