The Return of the Prodigal Son

A Story of Homecoming

by Henri Nouwen

**Summary**

A must-read book for understanding the Christian journey toward spiritual maturity.
Henri Nouwen describes how Rembrandt’s Return of the Prodigal propels him onto a spiritual journey, in which he comes to find himself in both the younger and elder son of Jesus’s famous parable. He is the younger son in the way that he is always searching for home in something and someone other than the Father. He is the elder son in the way that he becomes jealous and resentful of others who are honored above him, despite having been given a lesser performance.
Ultimately, Nouwen comes to realize that the great human calling is to move beyond the role of son in order to become heir. To become like the Father, whose generous, compassionate hands reach out with love toward those who are searching for the welcome of Home. It is a calling that Nouwen believes can only be lived after having experienced the loving embrace of the Father.
**Author’s Website:** The Return of the Prodigal Son - Book by Henri Nouwen

Favorite Quotes

“Jesus does not ask me to remain a child but to become one. Becoming a child is living toward a second innocence…”

“The world in which I have grown up is a world so full of grades, scores, and statistics that, consciously or unconsciously, I always try to take my measure against all the others. Much sadness and gladness in my life flows directly from my comparing, and most, if not all, of this comparing is useless and a terrible waste of time and energy.”

“For a long time I have lived with the insight that returning to my Father’s home was the ultimate call. It has taken me much spiritual work to make the elder son as well as the younger son in me turn around and receive the welcoming love of the Father. The fact is that, on many levels, I am still returning. But the closer I come to him the clearer becomes the realization that there is a call beyond the call to return. It is the call to become the Father who welcomes home and calls for a celebration.”

“This paralyzing fear of God is one of the great human tragedies. Rembrandt’s painting and his own tragic life have offered me a context in which to discover that the final stage of the spiritual life is to so fully let go of all fear of the Father that it becomes possible to become like him. As long as the Father evokes fear, he remains an outside and cannot dwell within me.”

As the Father, I have to dare to carry the responsibility of a spiritually adult person and dare to trust that the real joy and real fulfillment can only come from welcoming home those who have been hurt and wounded on their life’s journey, and loving them with a love that neither asks nor expects anything in return.”