September 26, 2025
The following excerpt is from Henri Nouwen’s “Turn My Mourning into Dancing: Finding Hope During Hard Times,” compiled and edited by Timothy Jones.
The hardships we all endure require more than words, of course, even spiritual words. Eloquent phrases cannot soothe our deep pain. But we do find something to lead and guide us through. We hear an invitation to allow our mourning to become a place of healing, and our sadness a way through pain to dancing.
Who is it Jesus said would be blessed? “Those who mourn” (Matt. 5:4). We learn to look fully into our losses, not evade them. By greeting life’s pains with something other than denial, we may find something unexpected. By inviting God into our difficulties, we ground life—even its sad moments—in joy and hope. When we stop grasping our lives, we can finally be given more than we could ever grab for ourselves. And we learn the way to a deeper love for others.
How can we learn to live this way? Many of us are tempted to think that if we suffer, the only important thing is to be relieved of our pain. We want to flee it at all costs. But when we learn to move through suffering, rather than avoid it, then we greet it differently. We become willing to let it teach us. We even begin to see how God can use it for some larger end. Suffering becomes something other than a nuisance or curse to be evaded at all costs, but a way into deeper fulfillment. Ultimately mourning means facing what wounds us in the presence of One who can heal.
©The estate of Henri Nouwen
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