Solitude is not a private space over against the public space
of community, nor is it merely a healing space in which
we restore ourselves for community life.
Solitude and community belong together; each requires the other
as do the center and circumference of circle.
Solitude without community leads us to loneliness and despair,
but community without solitude hurls us into a "void of words
and feelings"
Solitude is essential to community life because in solitude
we grow closer to each other.
When we pray alone, study, read, write, or simply spend quiet
time away from the places where we interact with each other
directly, we are in fact participating fully in the growth of
community.
It is a fallacy to think that we grow closer to each other
only when we talk, play, or work together.
Much growth certainly occurs in such human interactions, but
at least as much growth can take place when we enter
into solitude.
We take the other with us into solitude, and there
the relationship grows and deepens.
In solitude we discover each other in a way which
physical presence makes difficult, if not impossible.
It is in solitude that compassionate solidarity grows.
In solitude we realize that nothing human is alien to us,
that the roots of all conflict, war, injustice, cruelty, hatred,
jealousy, and envy are deeply anchored in our own heart.
In solitude our heart of stone can be turned into a heart
of flesh, a rebellious heart into a contrite heart, and a closed
heart into a heart that can open itself to all suffering
people in a gesture of solidarity.
Solitude is inseparable from community because in solitude
we affirm the deepest reality of our lives together, namely,
that as a community we are like hands pointing to God
in prayer. We might even say that community life itself
is, first of all, a prayerful gesture.
People do not form community when they cling to
each other in order to survive the storms of the world,
but they do form community when together they
erect a living prayer in the midst of our anxiety-ridden
human family.
All this suggests that life in solitude is a life in faith.
By leaving behind, from time to time, our many
self-affirming actions and becoming useless in the presence
of God,
we transcend our inner fears and apprehensions and
affirm our God as the one in whose love we find
our strength and security.
"Henri Nouwen has been and continues to be a beloved spiritual guide to countless people
around the world. He has been described in many ways: one of the most influential spiritual writers
of the twentieth century, an icon of Western spirituality, a brilliant theologian, a prophet,
a wounded healer, a powerful preacher, a man of the heart, and a faithful, generous friend,
to name just a few."
from the book, " Henri J. M. Nouwen, compiled and edited by Wendy Wilson Greer, The Only Necessary Thing,
Living A Prayerful Life"
He died some ten years ago. He had written numerous books, including
"The Return Of The Prodigal Son," "Burning Heart," "Can You Drink the Cup, and "Spiritual Direction,"