"Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses."

Psalm 107:6

The Only Necessary Thing
6.4.09   by Dave & Jami Dittmeier

Our couples' prayer group recently finished reading The Only Necessary Thing, a compilation of the writings of Henri Nouwen.
For those who may not be aware, Henri J. M. Nouwen was the author of more than 40 books and is considered to be one of the great spiritual writers of modern times.  He taught at the University of Notre Dame, Harvard, and Yale, but shared the last ten years of his life with people with mental handicaps as pastor of the l’Arche Daybreak community in Toronto, Canada.

Wendy Wilson Greer compiled and edited the writings of Henri Nouwen into this book. It is, with little doubt on our part, one of the best books on prayer we have ever read and its subtitle “Living a Prayerful Life” speaks volumes in the way it addresses various aspects of our faith walk.  The book is full of tremendous words of wisdom.  In the words of Sue Mosteller who wrote the forward to the book “[Nouwen’s] writings about prayer spring not from his mind but from his experience of longing for God, of sometimes experiencing the 'Presence' and of often being challenged to hope in the darkness.”

Ms. Greer has captured the essence of Nouwen’s extensive writings on prayer and distilled them down to this 200-page book.  “The invitation to a life of prayer is the invitation to live in the midst of this world without being caught in the net of wounds and needs…. Prayer is the center of the Christian life.  It is the only necessary thing” (from “Prayer and Peacemaking” by Nouwen). 

The Only Necessary Thing leads the reader though Henri Nouwen’s thoughts on various aspects of prayer including “Desire,” “What is Prayer?” “Solitude,” “Listening,” “Unceasing Prayer,” “Forgiveness,” and “Hindrances.” The final chapter of the book contains various prayers penned by Nouwen.

Our favorite passage of the book came at the end of the chapter titled “Death and Eternal Life.” Nouwen recounts a conversation he had with one of the Flying Rodleighs, a trapeze artists group who performed with the German circus.  Nouwen was talking about flying with the head of the group, who said, “I must have complete trust in my catcher. The flyer does nothing and the catcher does everything…. The worst thing the flyer can do is try to catch the catcher…the flyer must trust, with outstretched arms, that his catcher will be there for him.”  Nouwen pondered this analogy and the thought flashed through his mind of, “‘Father, into Your hands I commend my Spirit.’ Dying is trusting in the catcher…. Don’t be afraid.  You are a beloved child of God.  He will be there when you make your long jump.  Don’t try to grab Him; He will grab you. Just stretch out your arms and hands and trust, trust, trust.”

This book is a great read for all who desire to “Live a Prayerful Life.”