The spiritual life is a reaching out to our innermost self, to our fellow human and to our God. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Prayer is not a pious decoration of life but the breath of human existence. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Solitude does not pull us away from our fellow human beings but instead makes real fellowship possible. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Learning to weep, learning to keep vigil, learning to wait for the dawn. Perhaps this is what it means to be human. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
We are called to be fruitful - not successful, not productive, not accomplished. Success comes from strength, stress, and human effort. Fruitfulness… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
...the word that seems best to summarize the desire of the human heart is 'communion.' ...wherever we look it is communion that… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
No one person can fulfill all your needs. But the community can truly hold you. The community can let you experience the… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
...When you can look into the face of human beings and you have enough light to recognize them as your brothers and… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
It's an incredible mystery of God's love that the more you know how deeply you are loved, the more you will see… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Each individual human being can claim the Spirit of Jesus as the guiding spirit of his or her life. In that Spirit… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Feelings of guilt dominate our work as peacemakers we cannot last long. But when we have opened each other's eyes to the… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Through prayer we can carry in our heart all human pain and sorrow, all conflicts and agonies, all torture and war, all… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Compassion- which means, literally, "to suffer with"- is the way to the truth that we are most ourselves, not when we differ… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
We have probably wondered in our many lonesome moments if there is one corner in this competitive, demanding world where it is… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The more I think about the human suffering in our world and my desire to offer a healing response, the more I… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Somehow, somewhere, I know that God loves me, even though I do not feel that love as I can feel a human… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
A life without a lonely place, that is, a life without a quiet center, easily becomes destructive. When we cling to the… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
What is Hope?Hope is that inner dynamic that compels us to explore and pursue the expectations built into the human condition. Hope… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
As long as our restlessness, anxiety, and feelings of guilt dominate our work as peacemakers we cannot last long. But when we… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Joy is what makes life worth living, but for many joy seems hard to find. They complain that their lives are sorrowful… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The mystery of the spiritual life is that Jesus desires to meet us in the seclusion of our own heart, to make… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
If you feel a great loneliness and a deep longing for human contact, you have to be extremely discerning...and ask yourself whether… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Friendship is one of the greatest gifts a human being can receive. It is a bond beyond common goals, common interests, or… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The life-converting experience is not the discovery that I have choices to make that determine the way I live out my existence,… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Although many, we might even say most, strangers in this world become easily the victim of a fearful hostility, it is possible… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Indeed, when God's glory dwells in me, there is nothing too far away, nothing too painful, nothing too strange or too familiar… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
We are not the healers, we are not the reconcilers, we are not the givers of life. We are sinful, broken, vulnerable people who… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share
The more we touch the intimate love of God which creates, sustains, and guides us, the more we recognize the multitude of fruits that… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share
Feelings of guilt dominate our work as peacemakers we cannot last long. But when we have opened each other's eyes to the great human… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share
...we all want to hear stories, from the moment we are born to the moment we die. Stories connect our little lives with the… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share
Simply being with someone is difficult because it asks of us that we share in the other's vulnerability, enter with him or her into… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share
Jesus says, "Keep your heart on the kingdom first. Keep your heart on God's love. Keep focused on the fact that you are God's… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share
This sounds very simple and maybe even trite, but very few people know that they are loved without condition or limits. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share
“The more preoccupied we are with security the more visible the force of death becomes, whether in the form of a pistol beside our… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share
If you feel a great loneliness and a deep longing for human contact, you have to be extremely discerning...and ask yourself whether this situation… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share
I choose L'Arche; L'Arche chooses me. I would be dead if I weren't here. I need people to love me and care for me. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share
The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now, is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God's eyes, called… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share
In a world so torn apart by rivalry, anger, and hatred, we have the privileged vocation to be living signs of a love that… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share
Where true inner freedom is, there is God. And where God is, there we want to be. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share
