The power of IN MEMORIAM does not come from Nouwen's insights into death, loss, and grief, as profound as these insights happen to be. Rather in Nouwen's work we find someone who is struggling with these questions and invites the reader to struggle as well. In a sense Nouwen becomes a companion with his readers. He offers a sense of hope, which is what Nouwen attempts to do in most of his writings, and judging from the lives he has touched, obviously succeeds in doing.
