September 2009: The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming by Henri J. M. Nouwen

Exhausted from a six-week lecture tour across the U.S. in 1983, Nouwen seeks rest in the L'Arche community in France. During his stay, a painting of Rembrandt catches his attention: The Return of the Prodigal Son. Sustained reflection on the painting slowly emerges into awareness of a new vocation coming to flower in his heart, his own personal call to "come home," to make his home with L'Arche. Identifying with each of the three main figures in the painting, Nouwen crafts a fresh interpretation of a classic story, concluding: "Though I am both the younger son and the elder son, I am not to remain them, but called to become the Father." A miniature of the painting on the memorial card for Nouwen’s wake marked its special place in the memory of the L’Arche Daybreak community where he served as pastor for the last ten years of his life.
--synopsis from HenriNouwen.org

Doubleday, 1992, Pp.142

Click here for a reading guide for this book, provided by HenriNouwen.org.