Much violence is based on the illusion that life is a property to be defended and not to be shared.
HENRI NOUWENSomewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cure.
More Henri Nouwen Quotes
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We cannot make it rain but we can see to it that the rain falls on prepared soil.
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Hope means to keep living amid desperation and to keep humming in the darkness.
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I trust in you, Lord, but keep helping me in my moments of distrust and doubt.
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What makes us human is not our mind but our heart, not our ability to think but our ability to love.
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I feel strongly that the God we meet in solitude is always the God who calls us to community.
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Let’s not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God.
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Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life. We do not take the spiritual life seriously if we do not set aside some time to be with God and listen to him.
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Compassion can never coexist with judgement because judgement creates the distance, the distinction, which prevents us from really being with the other.
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For Jesus, there are no countries to be conquered, no ideologies to be imposed, no people to be dominated. There are only children, women and men to be loved.
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Your heart is greater than your wounds.
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Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place.
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Solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self.
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Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.
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The spiritual life is a life beyond moods. It is a life in which we choose joy and do not allow ourselves to become victims of passing feelings of happiness or depression.
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Spiritual maturity is not knowing what to do with your whole life, but just knowing what to do next.
HENRI NOUWEN






