Dear God, I am so afraid to open my clenched fists! Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to? Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands? Please help me to gradually open my hands and to discover that I am not what I own, but what you want to give me.
HENRI NOUWENCommunity means that people come together around the table, not just to feed their bodies, but to feed their minds and their relationships.
More Henri Nouwen Quotes
-
-
I often wonder if my knowledge about God has not become my greatest stumbling block to my knowledge of God.
HENRI NOUWEN -
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.
HENRI NOUWEN -
Prayer is not what is done by us, but rather what is done by the Holy Spirit in us.
HENRI NOUWEN -
We cannot make it rain but we can see to it that the rain falls on prepared soil.
HENRI NOUWEN -
Much violence is based on the illusion that life is a property to be defended and not to be shared.
HENRI NOUWEN -
The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing that is a friend who cares.
HENRI NOUWEN -
Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.
HENRI NOUWEN -
Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the Beloved.
HENRI NOUWEN -
When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become.
HENRI NOUWEN -
Community means that people come together around the table, not just to feed their bodies, but to feed their minds and their relationships.
HENRI NOUWEN -
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.
HENRI NOUWEN -
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.
HENRI NOUWEN -
Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place.
HENRI NOUWEN -
Life is just a little opportunity for you during a few years to say, “I love you, too.”
HENRI NOUWEN -
The fruits of your labors may be reaped two generations from now. Trust, even when you don’t see the results.
HENRI NOUWEN






