The gift of interruptions

     A few years ago I met an old professor at the University of Notre 

Dame.  Looking back on his long life of teaching, he said with a funny 

wrinkle in his eyes:  "I have always been complaining that my work was 

constantly interrupted, until I slowly discovered that my interruptions 

were my work."

     That is the great conversion in our life:  to recognize and believe 

that the many unexpected events are not just disturbing interruptions 

of our projects, but the way in which God molds our hearts and pre-

pares us for his return.  Our great temptations are boredom and 

bitterness.  When our good plans are interrupted by poor weather, 

our well-organized careers by illness or bad luck, our peace of mind 

by inner turmoil, our hope for peace by a new war, our desire for a 

stable discernment by a constant changing of the guards, and our 

desire for immortality by real death, we are tempted to give in to a 

paralyzing boredom or to strike back in destructive bitterness.  But 

when we believe that patience can make our expectations grow, then 

fate can be converted into a vocation, wounds into a call for deeper 

understanding, and sadness into a  birthplace for joy.

                                                           Henri J. Nouwen, Out of Solitude

      Who is Henry Nouwen?  Nouwen, January 24, 1932 to September 

21, 1996 was a Dutch-born Catholic priest and write who authored 

40 books on the spiritual life.  Nouwen's books are widely read by 

both Protestants and Catholics.

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