Publisher Description

This is Henri Nouwen's "secret journal." It was written during the most difficult period of his life, when he suddenly lost his self-esteem, his energy to live and work, his sense of being loved, even his hope in God. Although he experienced excruciating anguish and despair, he was still able to keep a journal in which he wrote a spiritual imperative to himself each day that emerged from his conversations with friends and supporters.


For more than eight years, Henri Nouwen felt that what he wrote was too raw and private to share with others. Instead, he published "The Return of the Prodigal Son, " in which he expressed some of the insights gained during his mental and spiritual crisis. But then friends asked him, "Why keep your anguish hidden from the many people who have been nurtured by your writing? Wouldn't it be of consolation for many to know about the fierce inner battle that lies underneath so many of your spiritual insights?"
For the countless men and women who have to live through the pain of broken relationships, or who suffer from the loss of a loved one, this book about the inner voice of love offers new courage, new hope, even new life.

Author Biography

Henri J. M. Nouwen (1932-1996) is the author of "Reaching Out", "The Wounded Healer", "Making All Things New", and many other spiritual classics. He taught psychology and pastoral theology at Notre Dame, Yale, and Harvard universities before becoming senior pastor of L'Arche Daybreak in Toronto, Canada, a community where men and women with intellectual disabilities and their assistants create a home for one another.

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