Walking the Stations with Nouwen

by Admin · June 10, 2015

WALK WITH JESUS: Stations of the Cross, by Fr Henri Nouwen. Orbis Books, 2015, 98pp

Reviewed by Paddy Kearney
Robert Ellsberg, the publisher of Orbis Books, says that throughout Henri Nouwen�s life, which ended in 1996 at the age of 64, he promoted one central and consistent theme: �that the Christian life is a matter of following in the footsteps of Jesus�.

Fr Nouwen�s own journey along that path brought him to many places, including Latin America where he lived for six months with missionaries among the poor of Bolivia, Peru and Central America.

That experience helped him to see Jesus� suffering reflected in the contemporary sufferings of those living on the margins of society. He returned to North America with a commitment to help Christians in the North see how their faith must be linked to the experience of their sisters and brothers in the South.

One of the ways Nouwen did this was by writing Walk With Jesus, first published in 1990, but now available again in a 25th anniversary edition.

Inspired by a series of Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister Helen David�s drawings, Nouwen�s reflections link the traditional Stations of the Cross with the passion of Christ lived out in the sufferings of the poor.

Let me give three examples.� Station II, �Jesus carries his Cross�, is based on a drawing of a young Guatemalan carrying a heavy load of wood for coffins to bury the Indian men who have been kidnapped, murdered and found dead on the side of the road, or to bury the children who could not survive the diseases that touched them as soon as they were born.

And Station VI, �Jesus meets Veronica�, is a reflection on the cry of a Filipino woman who holds in her hands a photograph of her �disappeared� husband, a face that pleads for compassion. She represents thousands of grief-stricken women whose husbands or sons suddenly disappear and are never seen again.

Station XI, �Jesus is nailed to the Cross�, is based on the drawing of a man dying in hospital in Katmandu, alone and with no name � just the number, 42. He has lived a life of poverty, many battles and few victories and now all his strength is gone.

In a moving concluding prayer, Nouwen sums up the message of this inspiring book: �Dear Jesus, You once were condemned; you are still being condemned. You once carried your cross; you are still carrying your cross. You once died; you are dying still. You once rose from the dead; you are still rising from the dead.�

And he adds: �There is immense pain in the wide world around us; there is immense pain in the small world within us. But all pain belongs to Jesus and is transformed by him into glorious wounds that allow us to recognise him as our risen Lord�.

Both Sr Helen David�s drawings and Fr Nouwen�s reflections on them can give new and profound meaning to our own personal walk with Jesus.