“Moving from teaching university students to living with mentally handicapped people was, for me at least, a step toward the platform where the father embraces his kneeling son. Step from bystander to participant, from judge to repentant sinner, from teacher… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share Image
“Do not tell everyone your story. You will only end up feeling more rejected. People cannot give you what you long for in your heart. The more you expect from people’s response to your experience of abandonment, the more you… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share Image
“Spiritual reading, therefore, is slow, deliberate, meditative reading in which we allow the words to penetrate our heart and question our spirit.” — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share Image
“The mystery of ministry is that we have been chosen to make our own limited and very conditional love the gateway for the unlimited… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share Image
“Jesus changes our history from a random series of sad incidents and accidents into a constant opportunity for a change of heart.” — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share Image
“Why should a man marry and have children, study and build a career; why should he invent new techniques, build new institutions, and develop… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share Image
“It wasn't that the Gospel proved useful for my many worries but that the Gospel proved the uselessness of my worries and so refocused… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share Image
“But mortification - literally, "making death" - is what life is all about, a slow discovery of the mortality of all that is created… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share Image
“Christians should put survival of the planet ahead of national security...Here is the mystery of our global responsibility: that we are in communion with… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share Image
“We want to live as people chosen, blessed, and broken, and thus become food for the world.” — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share Image
“Those who really can receive bread from a stranger and smile in gratitude, can feed many without even realizing it. Those who can sit… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share Image
“Whereas discipline without discipleship leads to rigid formalism, discipleship without discipline ends in sentimental romanticism.” — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share Image
“When God makes a covenant with us, God says: 'I will love you with an everlasting love. I will be faithful to you, even… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share Image
“Am I afraid to die? I am every time I let myself be seduced by the noisy voices of my world telling me that… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share Image
