Can You Drink the Cup?

"Can You Drink the Cup? weaves personal encounter, profound compassion for the Other, and the vibrant reality of God's Word into a brilliant whole. It is, quite simply, a classic."

"When the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin learned that his cancer had returned and that he hadn’t long to live, he turned immediately to Henri Nouwen for spiritual support. This little book explains why. In concise and elegant language, Can You Drink the Cup? opens up Nouwen's own life in Christ and enlarges ours. I loved the book—and needed it."

“Henri Nouwen gives us a healing self-understanding that calls us beyond ourselves, even as he respects how complex and difficult that journey is. Can You Drink the Cup?, written near the end of Henri's life, shows us how we might pray and move toward God, even as we still feel restlessness, anxiety, temptation, and doubt.”

“This gem of a book, unfolds an exploration of spiritual horizons, guided by a gentle teacher. To surrender to this tender voice is to recognize how we, too, ‘hold, lift and drink.’ It aligns our hearts with the energies of the God of love.”

“Many of the spiritual and devotional books I loved as a younger Catholic woman haven’t weathered well, but Can You Drink the Cup? remains on my shelf. Nouwen’s practical advice for a spiritual life rooted in silence, friendship, and meaningful work isn't flashy, but what appears simple at first reveals surprising depths. Each time I return to this book, I come away feeling as if a good friend has laid steadying hands on my shoulders and said, 'This is your life: joy and sorrow mingled. You can refuse
it or drink it to the dregs. This is the way of Jesus.'”

“Reading this classic by Henri Nouwen is a profoundly calming and illuminating experience. Nouwen's lucid prose lays bare the simple Gospel invitation to drink the cup of our own life. It challenges us to put fear aside—and to discover the greatest gifts in sharing bread and wine with those whom society all too often sweeps to the margins and ignores.”

“How in the world can suffering, heartache, and longing become a blessing? Henri Nouwen invites his readers to ponder exactly that when he revisits Jesus’s famous statement: ‘Can you drink from the cup I am going to drink?’”

“A fitting book to be his last published before his death. This is another one that I will read multiple times. Nouwen takes the idea of holding, lifting, and drinking a cup as a metaphor for embracing the life God has given us in all its joys and sorrows. In an age of distraction and endless entertainment, this book will only become more and more relevant.”