Live, work, and travel with handicapped people, so I can stay close to them. But since I am often busy with many… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
I am very grateful that I am in touch with so many different church groups. I am always very moved by the… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The great teachers are always those who can live the tension. They are not criticizing everybody, they're not complaining. They give young… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
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 Image
People who pray stand receptive before the world. They no longer grab but caress, they no longer bite but kiss, they no… — 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
The members - mentally handicapped people who are marginal in society and not useful in an economic sense - welcomed me into… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Ministers are tempted to join the ranks of those who consider it their primary task to keep other people busy … But… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Although we tend to think about saints as holy and pious, and picture them with halos above their heads and ecstatic gazes,… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
It is freeing to become aware that we do not have to be victims of our past and can learn new ways… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Just as people can watch spellbound a circus artist tumbling through the air in a phosphorized costume, so they can listen to… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
I speak of God's love and grace and redemption and freedom, but when I say "in the context of this community," it… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Those who are marginal in the world are central in the Church, and that is how it is supposed to be! Thus… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
This is what life is about. It is being sent on a trip by a loving God, who is waiting at home… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
One of the most beautiful ways for spiritual formation to take place is to let your insecurity lead you closer to the… — 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
If we want other people to give us something that only God can give, we become a demon. We say, "Love me!"… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
When we have nothing to cling to as our own and cease thinking of ourselves as people who must defend privileges, we… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Ministry is a very confronting service. It does not allow people to live with illusions of immortality and wholeness. It keeps reminding… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Forgiveness means that I continually am willing to forgive the other person for not being God — for not fulfilling all my… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Nobody escapes being wounded. We are all wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not, 'How can… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Most Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
All the great spiritual leaders in history were people of hope. Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Mary, Jesus, Rumi, Gandhi, and Dorothy Day all… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
In other words, first we must call people to communion with God, to intimacy with God, to a sense of belonging. Most… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The central question is, Are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God, people with an ardent desire to… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
People who have known the joy of God point each other to flashes of light here and there, and remind each other… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Lord Jesus, master of both the light and the darkness, send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas. We whose hearts… — 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
