Given to Matthew Hayes - 05/04/2023

I've just finished reading 'Our Greatest Gift: A Meditation on Dying and Caring" by Henri Nouwen.

Henri Nouwen (1932 – 1996) was a Dutch Catholic priest, professor, writer and theologian. His interests were rooted primarily in psychology, pastoral ministry, spirituality, social justice and community. After nearly two decades of teaching at academic institutions including the University of Notre Dame, Yale Divinity School and Harvard Divinity School, Nouwen went on to work with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities at the L'Arche Daybreak community in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

This book was written during a five week retreat he made to a friend's vacant apartment in Freiburg, Germany, at the beginning of which one of the L'Arche community in Ontario died, hence his choice of subject.

The title of the book sums it up pretty well. The book is divided into two parts - dying and caring for the dying, and is a meditation on each. Nouwen's writing gives these human universals purpose, meaning, and dignity, using an analogy with Jesus's own life, suffering and death, and referring repeatedly to our connectedness as sons and daughters of God.

The book is most definitely not about the process of dying, but a spiritual reflection on how dying well and caring for the dying can become a gift for the dying, their carers and the wider community.

Now that I am now myself what Nouwen calls an 'old man', that is over 60, I found the book helpful and a confirmation of how I had hoped to live the latter part of my life and what I had hoped to pass down to my children and friends spiritually. ( )

a moving, personal look at human mortality in Our Greatest Gift. A meditation on dying and caring, Our Greatest Gift gently and eloquently reveals the gifts that the living and dying can give to one another. The beloved bestselling author of With Open Hands, The Wounded Healer, and Making All Things New shares his own experiences with aging, loss, grief, and fear in this important and life-altering work.

He always has thought-provoking things to say. Some good points. ( )

Nouwen truly has a lovely way of putting what might seem the most average of moments in life into something that has eternal value and this is no exception. In this, he talks about dying and because he has died since this has been written, it is interesting to note what he puts in this. He talks of dying in a way that is a gift to others, and he has certainly fulfilled that and then some. Often times, it seems as if author's call people to things that they do not even fulfill and it is quite refreshing to read this with the knowledge that he has not only done this, but in a way I'm sure he couldn't have even imagined. This does tend to be a little monotonous at times, but usually because of the emphasis he puts on certain points. Overall, this is another amazing book by Nouwen has yet to disappoint. ( )