The main question is not, how can we hide our wounds but how can we put our woundedness in service to others.
HENRI NOUWENMuch violence is based on the illusion that life is a property to be defended and not to be shared.
More Henri Nouwen Quotes
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You have to listen to the one who calls you beloved. That has to be affirmed over and over again. That is prayer – listening to the voice of the one who calls you “the beloved.”
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Spiritual maturity is not knowing what to do with your whole life, but just knowing what to do next.
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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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Keep a space where God can let something totally new take place.
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I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found.
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We need to be angels for each other, to give each other strength and consolation. Because only when we fully realize that the cup of life is not only a cup of sorrow but also a cup of joy will we be able to drink it.
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Every time there are losses, there are choices to be made. You choose to live your losses as passages to anger, blame, hatred, depression and resentment, or you choose to let these losses be passages to something new, something wider, and deeper.
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Once we deeply trust that we ourselves are precious in God’s eyes, we are able to recognize the preciousness of others and their unique places in God’s heart.
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I trust in you, Lord, but keep helping me in my moments of distrust and doubt.
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Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cure.
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Life is just a little opportunity for you during a few years to say, “I love you, too.”
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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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Community means that people come together around the table, not just to feed their bodies, but to feed their minds and their relationships.
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You don’t think your way into a new kind of living. You live your way into a new kind of thinking.
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Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved.
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If I were to let my life be taken over by what is urgent, I might very well never get around to what is essential.
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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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Waiting time is not wasting time. Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life.
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Our life is a time in which sadness and joy kiss each other at every moment.
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When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become.
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Community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another.
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Much violence is based on the illusion that life is a property to be defended and not to be shared.
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God, help me to see others not as enemies or as ungodly but rather as thirsty people. And give me the courage and compassion to offer your Living Water, which alone quenches deep thirst.
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In a world so torn apart by rivalry, anger, and hatred, we have the privileged vocation to be living signs of a love that can bridge all divisions and heal all wounds.
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We are called to be fruitful – not successful, not productive, not accomplished. Success comes from strength, stress, and human effort. Fruitfulness comes from vulnerability and the admission of our own weakness.
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Your life is not going to be easy, and it should not be easy. It ought to be hard. It ought to be radical; it ought to be restless; it ought to lead you to places you’d rather not go.
HENRI NOUWEN