When I was editor of Youthworker Journal many years ago I conducted a phone interview with the late priest Henri Nouwen for an issue we were doing on personal spirituality (spring 1993). I recently found the mini-cassette of that interview tucked away in a desk drawer and thought I’d make a digital copy of it since old cassettes tend to deteriorate over time.
You can listen to our conversation below. It took place about a year after Marci and I (and six other friends) spent a week with Henri at his residence in L’Arche Daybreak near Toronto, Ontario, Canada in December 1991. We talked a little bit about that time together at the end of the interview.
The topic of this particular interview is prayer and in the magazine we titled the article “Gazing at Jesus: A Conversation with Henri Nouwen.”
While this interview was edited for the magazine article, no editing was done on these audio recordings. I did however break it into four segments. They vary in length, from about seven minutes to more than thirteen. Only the first question is indicated below.
After listening to this 15-year-old conversation again, I am re-challenged to shift some priorities in my life and spend more time with God in prayer. How about you?
If the mp3 audio player is not displaying or functioning properly below, just click on the links and you will hear the interview in your Quicktime or Windows Media Player.
Segment One: “Why is prayer so important?”
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Segment Two: “How do you ‘listen’ to God when you are praying?”
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Segment Three: “What is contemplative prayer?”
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Segment Four: “What is a spiritual director?”
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January 22nd, 2010 at 10:53 am
Dear Wayne,
Many thanks for sending us the link to your interview with Henri. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get it to play. Can you help?
Blessings,
Maureen
Henri Nouwen Society
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:57 am
Thanks for pointing this out to me. Apparently the mp3 audio player I chose doesn’t work for Internet Explorer like it does in Firefox.
Try again now. I’ve added links to the audio which should work for you. Just click on the links for each segment and you should be able to listen to them with the audio player you have on your computer.
Let me know if you still have problems accessing these audio clips. Hope you enjoy hearing Henri answer these questions. He was very generous with his time and very patient with me.