In his book The Living...
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In his book The Living Reminder, Henri Nouwen discusses the difference between an absence that occurs after someone has been present and the absence that is felt because no one comes at all. He says there can only be a leaving if there has been a coming; that without a presence having been there cannot be an absence, only emptiness. Christ could only leave because he first came. There is as much intimacy and compassion in his going away as in his coming. But how were the disciples to see that? Jesus was their closest friend, their master, their teacher. They had left everything to follow him. And now he announced he was leaving! It was contemplation of the absence of his presence that brought sorrow to the disciples' hearts. Yet it was Jesus' leaving that left room for the coming of the Holy Spirit. At times we feel utterly helpless, utterly alone, just as the disciples did when Jesus left them. And in those times, the Spirit comes fulfilling Jesus' promise: "I will not leave you comfortless." (Nouwen, Henry, The Living Reminder: Service and Prayer in Memory of Jesus Christ, Seabury, 1977; New York: Harper and Row, 1981.) -- Fannin
