Anselm Gruen arrives to Taiwan to promote spiritual wholeness
Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong, Lin Yi-ying
Written by Lydia Ma
Anselm Gruen, a German Benedictine padre and author of more than 300 books on spirituality, arrived to Taiwan on October 18, 2010. Gruen’s books have so far sold more than 14 million copies and have been translated into 30 languages – including Chinese. Gruen is also a spiritual counselor to many managers and he is often invited to give lectures on how to minister to people’s hearts. He will embark on a nationwide tour of Taiwan for a week, making stops in Hualien, Taipei, Taichung, Changhua, Hsinchu, Tainan, Chiayi, and Kaohsiung.
As Gruen got ready to take the stage in Hualien and introduce “The art of enriching your heart”, he was greeted with a thunderous applause. His presentation were inspired from 7 statements Jesus uttered while on the cross which he deduced to 7 themes, namely, forgiveness, hope, love, trust, transformation, healing, and spiritual formation. Gruen said if people would practice these virtues in their daily lives, their hearts would overflow with contentment and wealth.
He emphasized on the importance of reciting Psalms as a means of turning our deepest fears into a place of acceptance where we finally accept ourselves because we understand how precious we are in God’s eyes. But this place of acceptance and trust in God is only possible when we draw near to God everyday and consequently take lightly people’s comments or acceptance of ourselves.
Gruen encouraged his listeners to lay bare their weaknesses before God instead of hiding them, and allow God to transform them from the inside out.
Gruen’s first stop in Taiwan was PCT Headquarters where he met with General Assembly leaders to discuss and pray for this upcoming tour. He especially thanked PCT for hosting him and for taking a big step forward in ecumenism.
During a time of sharing, Gruen referred to passages found in the books of James and Mark to emphasize that when Jesus proclaimed that the kingdom of heaven was near, he wasn’t only alluding to spiritual revival, but also physical healing.
He added that physicians and science can heal a person’s body, but preachers are called to speak to and heal a person’s heart and lead a person into self-acceptance and spiritual revival through proclaiming and believing God’s word.
