“Secularity is a way of being dependent on the responses of our milieu. The secular or false self is the self which is fabricated, as Thomas Merton says, by social compulsions. 'Compulsive' is indeed the best adjective for the false self. It points to the need for ongoing and increasing affirmation. Who am I? I am the one who is… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share
“Prayer helps us overcome the fear that is related to building our life just on the interpersonal—“What does he or she think… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share Image
“When we live with hope we do not get tangled up with concerns for how our wishes will be fulfilled. So, too,… — 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 new ideas--when he doubts if there will be a tomorrow which can guarantee the value of human effort? Crucial here for nuclear man is the lack of a sense of continuity, which is so vital for… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share
“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 so that we can appreciate its beauty without clinging to it as if it were a lasting possession. Our lives can indeed be seen as a process of becoming familiar with death, as a school in… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share
“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 Christ- and we are in communion with all people...The fact that the people of Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Russia, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia are our brothers and sisters is not obvious. People kill each other by the… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share
“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 in silence with their fellow man not knowing what to say but knowing that they should be there, can bring new life in a dying heart. Those who are not afraid to hold a hand in… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share
“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 when you run away from me, reject me, or betray me.' In our society we don’t speak much about covenants; we speak about contracts. When we make a contract with a person, we say: 'I will… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share
“Am I afraid to die? I am every time I let myself be seduced by the noisy voices of my world telling me that my "little life" is all I have and advising me to cling to it with all my might. But when I let these voices move to the background of my life and listen to that small… — Henri J.M. Nouwen Copy Share
