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The Return of the Prodigal Son Anniversary Edition: A Special Two-in-One Volume, including Home Tonight
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About The Return Of The Prodigal Son Anniversary
Product Description With a preface by James Martin, SJ. A specially-priced two-in-one omnibus gift edition of Henri Nouwen's bestselling The Return of the Prodigal Son and it's companion and prequel Home Tonight. In seizing the inspiration that came to him through Rembrandt's depiction of the powerful Gospel story "The Return of the Prodigal Son," Henri Nouwen probes several movements of the parable: the younger son's return, the father's restoration of sonship, the elder son's vengefulness, and the father's compassion. In his reflection on Rembrandt in light of his own life's journey, the author evokes a powerful drama of the parable in a rich, capativating way that is sure to reverberate in the hearts of readers. The themes of homecoming, affirmation, and reconciliation will be newly discovered by all who have known loneliness, dejection, jealousy, or anger. Coupled with the lectures that inspired the book and originally collected in Home Tonight, this special 2-in-1 omnibus will be the definitive edition of the spiritual classic. Review "In your hands you have one of the greatest spiritual classics of our time, by one of the great spiritual masters of our time, as well as a way to reflect on it more at length. Let Nouwen's wisdom speak to you now." –James Martin, SJ, from the Foreword About the Author HENRI NOUWEN was a Dutch-born Catholic priest, professor, and pastor, who gained international renown as the author of over 30 books on the spiritual life, including such classics as The Wounded Healer, The Inner Voice of Love, and Reaching Out. Nouwen's books have been translated into more than 30 languages and have sold upwards of seven million copies worldwide, resonating with people across the religious, spiritual, cultural, and political spectrum. Since his death in 1996, ever-increasing numbers of readers, writers, teachers, and seekers have been guided by his literary legacy. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter 1 Rembrandt and the Younger Son Rembrandt was close to his death when he painted his Prodigal Son. Most likely it was one of Rembrandt’s last works. The more I read about it and look at it, the more I see it as a final statement of a tumultuous and tormented life. Together with his unfinished painting Simeon and the Child Jesus, the Prodigal Son shows the painter’s perception of his aged self--a perception in which physical blindness and a deep inner seeing are intimately connected. The way in which the old Simeon holds the vulnerable child and the way in which the old father embraces his exhausted son reveal an inner vision that reminds one of Jesus’ words to his disciples: “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.” Both Simeon and the father of the returning son carry within themselves that mysterious light by which they see. It is an inner light, deeply hidden, but radiating an all-pervasive tender beauty. This inner light, however, had remained hidden for a long time. For many years it remained unreachable for Rembrandt. Only gradually and through much anguish did he come to know that light within himself and, through himself, in those he painted. Before being like the father, Rembrandt was for a long time like the proud young man who “got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money.” When I look at the profoundly interiorized self-portraits which Rembrandt produced during his last years and which explain much of his ability to paint the luminous old father and the old Simeon, I must not forget that, as a young man, Rembrandt had all the characteristics of the prodigal son: brash, self-confident, spendthrift, sensual, and very arrogant. At the age of thirty, he painted himself with his wife, Saskia, as the lost son in a brothel. No interiority is visible there. Drunk, with his half-open mouth and sexually greedy eyes, he glares scornfully at those who look at his portrait as if to say: “Isn’t this a lot of fun!” With his
