Gracias: A Latin American Journal [Paperback]

Henri J. M. Nouwen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1993

In this journal of his travels in Bolivia and Peru, Nouwen ponders the presence of God in the poor, the challenge of a persecuted church, the relation between faith and justice, and his own struggle to discern the path along which God is calling him. "Nouwen puts his inexhaustible curiosity and hunger for religious experience gladly at the service of a worldwide audience."--The Boston Globe.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Henri Nouwen, a Dutch-born priest and one of the world s most popular spiritual writers, was pastor of the L Arche Daybreak community in Canada. His many best-selling books include Adam; Jesus: A Gospel; and With Burning Hearts: A Meditation on the Eucharistic Life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 188 pages
• Publisher: Orbis Books (February 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0883448513
• ISBN-13: 978-0883448519
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #565,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #29 in Books > Travel > Latin America > South America > Bolivia

More About the Author

Henri Nouwen was born in Holland in 1932 and ordained a Catholic priest in 1957. He obtained his doctorandus in psychology from Nijmegen University in the Netherlands and taught at Notre Dame, Yale, and Harvard. He experienced the monastic life with Trappist monks at the Abbey of the Genesee, lived among the poor in Latin America with the Maryknoll missioners, and was interested and active in numerous causes related to social justice. After a lifetime of seeking, Henri Nouwen finally found his home in Canada, as pastor of L'Arche Daybreak - where people with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers live together in community.

Henri Nouwen wrote over 40 books on spirituality and the spiritual life that have sold millions of copies and been translated into dozens of languages. His vision of spirituality was broad and inclusive, and his compassion embraced all of humankind.

He died in 1996. His work and his spirit live on.

Henri Nouwen pronounced his name "Henry Now-en." For more information on his life and work, please visit www.henrinouwen.org .

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stepping Beyond Security, September 24, 2000

By 

Siri Hall (Ventura, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gracias: A Latin American Journal (Paperback)

September 24, 2000

In Henri Nouwen's journal entries, he captures each moment and thought of his struggle to find God's calling during his journey through Peru and Bolivia. Not only does he describe his own feelings, but also the joys and struggles of the people he came in contact with. His journal depicts the true venture of stepping into mission work or at least stepping outside of our everyday life in search of our place in this world. He gives encouragement to those who are searching and have felt a calling to go out and help others. He opened my eyes to show me that it is not the number of people you help but it is the one heart that you touch that counts.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Gracias!: De nada?, February 15, 2010

By 

Patrick J. Jones - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gracias: A Latin American Journal (Paperback)

Title: Gracias! A Latin American Journal by Henri J. M. Nouwen

Pages: 188.

Time spent on the "to read" shelf: 9 months.

Days spent reading it: 3 days.

Why I read it: There are multiple steps in why I read Gracias! First, I love Henri Nouwen's writings. Second, I read a few excerpts from Gracias! in a Henri Nouwen collection and found some of his reflections interesting. Third, our youth group went on a short term missions trip to Peru, and Gracias! is about Nouwen's time in Lima, Peru. So it seemed like a great fit for me.

Brief review: Gracias! was a little harder to read than I was anticipating. It's one thing to read a coherent book on a particular topic, it's quite another to read the journal writings of a person as they are developing some of those thoughts.

Henri Nouwen is a Roman Catholic priest who was a successful professor at Yale and Notre Dame. He gave up the academic life and started searching for a different type of ministry. So he went to South America for about 6 months. 3 months in Bolivia for language study, 3 months in Lima, Peru as an exploratory trip to see if he would like to serve there for a longer period of time. Nouwen's insight into human behavior, including his own, is invaluable. He is very open and vulnerable in his writings, which is what draws me to him. However, these journal entries are not a systematic thought about anything in particular. So there are occasional glimpses of great insight. But its in the midst of the mundane of everyday life.

Was it thought provoking? Yes. Was it sometimes boring? Yes. Did it have interesting insights about life and how we live it? Definitely. Am I glad I read it? Mostly. Would I recommend it to others? Not unless they were die-hard Nouwen fans. Check out his other works first, and if you really want to fill in other parts of his life, then pick this journal up to read about his time in South America.

I had one interesting thought after reading this journal. Nouwen ministered in Latin America when Liberation Theology was flourishing. It was getting huge. And Nouwen listened to some lectures by Gustavo Gutierrez, a founding theologian of Liberation Theology. What struck me was this, Liberation Theology has some similar elements to the current Emergent Movement. I am not saying they are synonymous, but simply that they have some similar elements. I also don't think these things are necessarily bad, perhaps the Emergent Movement is taking some of the good from Liberation.

So what are those elements you ask? 1. Extreme concern for the poor. 2. Reframing salvation in terms of freedom from oppression (closely linked to concern for the poor and oppressed). 3. Ortho-praxis (right action) is emphasized, sometimes over orthodoxy (right doctrine). 4. I don't know if this is simply the Catholic Church, Liberation Theology, Latin American culture, or Nouwen's own observation, but Nouwen was well aware of the fact that ministry must be done in small community and outside of the church walls back in the early 80s. This theme is a huge part of the Emergent movement. Do ministry with the people in their environment, live missionally. It seems that Nouwen was doing this well before it became a buzz word like it is today, almost 30 years later.

Now this is not a hard and fast rule. Both movements have many different strands. And this is clearly not a research paper (although, now that I think about it, it could make a very interesting one), just some observations that I had while reading this book. Do with them what you will. If you do not know what Liberation theology was (is?) or what the Emergent movement is, don't worry about it. This is just one of my quirky interests.

Favorite quote: "What moves me most in reflecting on these opportunities is that they lead us to the heart of ministry and mission. The more I think about the meaning of living and acting in the name of Christ, the more I realize that what I have to offer to others is not my intelligence, skill, power, influence, or connections, but my own human brokenness through which the love of God can manifest itself."

Stars: 3 out of 5.

Final Word: De nada?

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful reflections, March 29, 2010

By 

NN (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Gracias: A Latin American Journal (Paperback)

This is a great book and a reliable source of inspiration. I haven't been a big reader of Nouwen, not so interested in books that preach to me. But his journals really reach me. I can identify with the struggles he faces and apply his thoughtful reflections to my life. I recommend this highly to all who can be turned off by traditional spiritual or inspirational reading.