September 18, 2025
Good afternoon,
Book 9 of my top ten books… Wounded Healer by Henri Nouwen ( 1972 ) 97 pages”
He ( or She ) is called to be the wounded healer, the one who must look after his own wounds but at the same time be prepared to heal wounds of others …” page 82″ The wound of loneliness in the life of the minister hurts all the more, since he/she not only shares in the human condition of isolation , but also finds his/her professional impact on others is diminishing… ” page 85
It is the book that I have re-read the most times( it is the shortest of all of the ten ). It is about the calling of being a minister. I hope I have incorporated many of the ideas that Nouwen writes about here. Nouwen is pastoral, and is profound many times on every page. He was a Harvard professor, a missionary to the poor in Guatemala and for his final work he was in Toronto at a L’Arche community.
Since I retired in March, I am not a minister anymore. I am still a ministering person, so this reading of the book has a different perspective for me. I think I have learned some things over the years. I might have read the book for the first time in 1981. I realize that I am a broken person, but as I have realized over the years, it allows me to hear the brokenness of others.
Now onto the final book of my Top Ten…
Fred
Ponder Anew 