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A Christmas prayer

Henri Nouwen was a Dutch Catholic priest who wrote widely on the spiritual life. After teaching for many years he left America for Canada, where he spent the last twelve years of his life at L’Arche community. It was here that many of his books were written.

O Lord, how hard it is to accept your way. You come to me

as a small, powerless child born away from home. You live for

me as a stranger in your own land. You die for me as a criminal

outside the walls of the city, rejected by your own people,

misunderstood by your friends, and feeling abandoned by your

God.

As I prepare to celebrate your birth, I am trying to feel loved,

accepted, and at home in this world, and I am trying to

overcome the feelings of alienation and separation which

continue to assail me. But I wonder now if my deep sense of

homelessness does not bring me closer to you than my occasional

feelings of belonging. Where do I truly celebrate your birth: in a

cosy home or in an unfamiliar house, among welcoming friends

or among unknown strangers, with feelings of well-being or with

feelings of loneliness?

I do not have to run away from those experiences that are

closest to yours. Just as you do not belong to this world, so I do

not belong to this world. Every time I feel this way I have an

occasion to be grateful and to embrace you better and taste more

fully your joy and peace.

Come, Lord Jesus, and be with me where I feel poorest. I

trust that this is the place where you will find your manger and

bring your light. Come, Lord Jesus, come. Amen.

Henri Nouwen (1932–1996)