[Faith-talk] Short blerbs in my morning reading PT 2

[Poppa Bear via Faith-talk]

                Henry Nouwen, who wrote The Return of the Prodigal Son, gave
up his 

            teaching position at Harvard in order to work with the mentally 

            handicapped in Toronto. His book was based on the impact
Rembrandt's 

            picture of the Prodigal Son had upon his life when he had gone
to 

            St. Petersburg and stared at that picture for three hours. Henry


            Nouwen said, "You know, I have preached an awful lot about the 

            forgiving father, the receiving father. I'm not sure I have
fully 

            been engulfed in that myself to understand this kind of love."
He 

            said he went to work with the mentally handicapped, "not because
I 

            had something to teach them, but because they had something to
teach 

            me." He wrote of one of the young women at the institution who
would 

            always stand at the door welcoming each new person. She would
often 

            have some saliva uncontrollably dribbling from her mouth. But
she 

            would reach over and embrace the visitor, give them a kiss and 

            welcome them into that place. Henry Nouwen said, "It had been a
long 

            time since I understood what it was to receive such
unconditional 

            love."