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.
HENRI NOUWENThe 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.
More Henri Nouwen Quotes
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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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Forgiveness changes the way we remember.
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The great illusion of leadership is to think that man can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there.
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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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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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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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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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Pay attention to the people God puts in your path if you want to discern what God is up to in your life.
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Our humanity comes to its fullest bloom in giving. We become beautiful people when we give whatever we can give: a smile, a handshake, a kiss, an embrace, a word of love, a present, a part of our life…all of our life.
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The main question is not, how can we hide our wounds but how can we put our woundedness in service to others.
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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.
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Our greatest fulfillment lies in giving ourselves to others.
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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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Waiting time is not wasting time. Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life.
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