Nouwen on healing

“We are called to grieve our losses. It seems paradoxical, but healing and dancing begin with looking squarely at what causes us pain. We face the secret losses that have paralyzed us and kept us imprisoned in denial or shame or guilt. We do not nurse the illusion that we can hopscotch our way through difficulties. For by trying to hide parts of our story from God"s eye and our own consciousness, we become judges of our own past. We limit divine mercy to our human fears. Our efforts to disconnect ourselves from our own suffering end up disconnecting our suffering from God"s suffering for us. The way out of our hurt and loss is in and through. When Jesus said, ”?For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners," he affirmed that only those who can face their wounded condition can be available for healing and enter a new way of living.”?

Henri Nouwen