Henri gradually identifies the "clowns of Rome"
as those who are wasting their time with the little, broken, unattractive, sometimes violent people
who suffer and for whom no one else seems to care.
Observing the lives of these unusual clowns
pouring out their life energies to care for brothers and sisters
in a city of pilgrims and violence,
Henri is inspired to speak of the clown like foolishness of
choosing to live a life of
love and service for God and others.
In the first chapters, "Solitude and Community."
Henri describes this chosen life of love and service as
one that is "alone but not lonely."
He teaches us that choosing to be alone in solitude
nurtures the tenderness,
peacefulness,
and inner freedom
to move closer to one another
or, if necessary, to withdraw from one another.
Solitude, he says, is the gentle guide to all forms of intimacy.
In solitude our deep longings to be loved unconditionally,
and to love with our whole beings are uncovered,
and in solitude we more readily meet the One who calls us Beloved. Being alone
indirectly transforms relationships and builds community. Community, according to Henri, is not a group of individuals huddling together out of fear
or driven together by common anger,
but community is a Body of people,
bound by a common heritage -
all children of a personal God.
Forward by Sue Mosteller, C. S. .J.
from the book Clowning In Rome
