From Publishers Weekly
Nouwen, well-loved author of such books as The Wounded Healer , offers us here a gentle, almost meditative book on coming to terms with death. Reflecting on his own not-so-distant future death, as well as on the deaths of loved ones and friends, he shares his view of death as a gift, an opportunity to impart hope to those around us, whether through our own dying or in our caretaking of someone else. In embracing death, says Nouwen, one comes to ask: "How can I so live that I can continue to be fruitful when I am no longer here among my family and friends?" One can, in other words, make choices that effect not just one's self but also the generations to come--choices to care well, to die well and to embrace Grace. If there is a limitation to this book it lies in its failure to deal explicitly as well as implicitly with sudden and/or violent death. This is a very comforting book that will appeal to the general reader as well as the religious or to health professionals. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
The Franciscan priest, professor, and scholar spent his last 10 years as pastor of a community for mentally handicapped people. Reflecting on deaths there and elsewhere, his 1994 book explores two ideas--that death can be a welcome return to our spiritual source and that impending death offers us opportunities for intense and heartfelt love. "Death leads to new life," he says, because it gives us a chance to express gentleness and kindness toward others. Narrated respectfully but unremarkably, the down-to-earth writing will mobilize our love for the least among us and help listeners embrace the realities of death in a humble and spiritual way. T.W. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine



"It's a new way of looking at death, one with an up side."


Publishers Weekly
"...a very comforting book....Nouwen offers us here a gentle, almost meditative book on coming to terms with death."


Capital Times
"One of my favorite 'caregivers,' Henri Nouwen challenges us to accept our death as part of our spiritual journey, not it's end.....Nouwen continues to be a must read."


Miami Herald
"It's a new way of looking at death, one with an up side."


Book Description
One of the best-loved spiritual writers of our time takes a moving, personal look at human mortality. As he shares his own experiences with aging, loss, grief, and fear, Nouwen gently and eloquently reveals the gifts that the living and dying can give to one another.


From the Publisher
Henri Nouwen's critically acclaimed and deeply moving look at human mortality that reveals the essential gifts the living and the dying can give to one another.


About the Author
Henri J. M. Nouwen, (1932-1996) was the author of With Open Hands, Reaching Out, The Wounded Healer, Making All Things New, and many other bestsellers. He was the senior pastor of L'Arche Daybreak in Toronto, Canada, a community where men and women with mental disabilities and their assistants create a home for one another.


Excerpted from Our Greatest Gift : A Meditation on Dying and Caring by Henri J. M. Nouwen. Copyright © 1995. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
Chapter OneWe Are Children of GodWhen I became sixty, the Daybreak community gave me a big party. More than one hundred people came together to celebrate. John Bloss was there, eager as always to play an active role. John is full of good thoughts, but his disability makes it painfully difficult for him to express these thoughts in words. Still, he loves to speak, especially when he has a captive audience.With everyone sitting in a large circle, Joe, the master of ceremonies, said, "Well, John, what do you have to say to Henri today?" John, who loves the theatrical, got up, put himself in the center of the circle, pointed to me, and began to search for words. "You ... you ... are," he said with a big grin on his face. "You ... you ... are ... Uh ... uh . . . " Everyone looked at him with great expectation as he tried to get his words out while pointing ever-more directly at me. "You ... you ... are ... uh ... uh . . . " And then, like an explosion, the words came out. "An old man!" Everybody burst out laughting, and John basked in the success of his performance.That said it all. I had become "an old man." Few people would say it so directly, and most would continue with qualifications about still looking young, still so full of energy, and on and on. John said it simply and truthfully: "You are an old man."It seems fair to say that people between the ages of one and thirty are considered young; those between thirty and sixty are considered middle-aged; and those past their sixtieth birthday are considered old. But then you yourself are suddenly sixty, and you don't feel old. At least I don't. My teenage years seem only a short time ago, my years of studying and teaching feel like yesterday, and my seven years at Daybreak feel like seven days. Thinking of myself as "an old man" does not come spontaneously. I need to hear it announced loud and clear.A few years ago a university student spoke to me about his father. "My dad doesn't understand me," he said. "He's so bossy, and he always wants to be right; he never allows any room for my ideas. It's difficult to be with him." Trying to comfort him, I said, "My dad is not very different from yours, but, you know, that's the older generation!" Then with a sigh, he said, "Yes, my dad is already forty!" I suddenly realized that I was speaking to someone who could have been my grandson.Indeed, I somehow keep forgetting that I have become old and that young people regard me as an old man. It helps me to look at myself in a mirror once in a while. Gazing at my face, I see both my mother and my father when they were sixty years old, and I remember how I thought of them as old people.Being an old man means being close to death. In the past, I often tried to figure out if I could still double the years I had lived. When I was twenty, I was sure that I would live at least another twenty years. When I was thirty, I trusted that I would easily reach sixty. When I was forty, I wondered if I would make it to eighty. And when I turned fifty, I realized that only a few make it to one hundred. But now, at sixty, I am sure that I have gone far past the halfway point and that my death is much closer to me than my birth.Old men and old women must prepare for death. But how do we prepare ourselves well? For me, the first task is to become a child againto reclaim my childhood. This might seem to be opposite to our natural desire to maintain maximum independence. Nevertheless, becoming a child-entering a second childhood-is essential to dying a good death. Jesus spoke about this second childhood when he said, "Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 18:3).What characterizes this second childhood? It has to do with a new dependence. For the first twenty or so years of life, we depend on our parents, teachers, and friends. Forty years later, we again become increasingly dependent. The younger we are, the more people we need so that we may live; the older we become, the more people we again need to live. Life is lived from dependence to dependence.That's the mystery that God has revealed to us through Jesus, whose life was a journey from the manger to the cross. Born in complete dependence on those who surrounded him, Jesus died as the passive victim of other people's actions and decisions. His was the journey from the first to the...

FROM THE PUBLISHER

One of the best-loved spiritual writers of our time takes a moving, personal look at human mortality. As he shares his own experiences with aging, loss, grief, and fear, Nouwen gently and eloquently reveals the gifts that the living and dying can give to one another.

About the Author Henri J. M. Nouwen, (1932-1996) was the author of With Open Hands, Reaching Out, The Wounded Healer, Making All Things New, and many other bestsellers. He was the senior pastor of L'Arche Daybreak in Toronto, Canada, a community where men and women with mental disabilities and their assistants create a home for one another.

FROM THE CRITICS

Miami Herald

It's a new way of looking at death, one with an up side.

Capital Times