Prayer is not a pious decoration of life but the breath of human existence. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
If I were to let my life be taken over by what is urgent, I might very well never get around to… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
I want my work to create space where people can meet God, rather than give them something they can "apply" to their… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Prayer is the center of the Christian life. It is the only necessary thing. It is living with God, here and now. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The crisis of our prayer life is that our minds may be filled with ideas of God while our hearts remain far… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
People who read your ideas tend to think that your writings reflect your life. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
A life without a lonely place, that is, without a quiet center, becomes destructive. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
As peacemakers, we must resist all the powers of war and destruction and proclaim that peace is the divine gift offered to… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
God, help me to see others not as enemies or as ungodly but rather as thirsty people. And give me the courage… — 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… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
I still believe that the university is a place where people can develop their minds and learn skills, but also they can… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
A prayerful life is not a life in which we say many prayers, but a life in which nothing, absolutely nothing, is… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
I was forced to enter the basement of my soul and look directly at what was hidden there, and to choose, in… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The Lord is coming, always coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The spiritual life is a life beyond moods. It is a life in which we choose joy and do not allow ourselves… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Jesus' whole life and mission involve accepting powerlessness and revealing in this powerlessness the limitlessness of God's love. Here we see what… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Our spiritual life is a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, expecting that new things will happen to… — 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
Jesus has to be and become ever more the center of my life. It is not enough that Jesus is my teacher,… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
It is good to have a prayer on your lips wherever you go. There are so many moments in life when you… — 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
Teaching, therefore, asks first of all the creation of a space where students and teachers can enter into a fearless communication with… — 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
Your life is not going to be easy, and it should not be easy. It ought to be hard. It ought to… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Prayer is the breath of your life which gives you the freedom to go and stay where you wish and to find… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
To be baptized means to make the passage with the people of Israel and with Jesus from slavery to freedom and from… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Community life is not easy for somebody like me, who is used to living by himself and doing what he wants. It's… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The great challenge is to discover that we are truly invited to participate in the divine life of the Father, the Son,… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
What once seemed such a curse has become a blessing. All the agony that threatened to destroy my life now seems like… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Aging does not need to be hidden or denied, but can be understood, affirmed and experienced as a process of growth by… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
When we become aware that we do not have to escape our pains, but that we can mobilize them into a common… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Without Pentecost the Christ-event - the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus - remains imprisoned in history as something to remember, think… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The dance of life finds its beginnings in grief…Here a completely new way of living is revealed. It is the way in… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
To live a spiritual life we must first find the courage to enter into the desert of loneliness and to change it… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life. ...We do not take the spiritual life seriously if we do… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The spiritual life is not a life before, after, or beyond our everyday existence. No, the spiritual life can only be real… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Based or our baptism, all are called to a mystical life, to communion with God. We need to claim that, to taste… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
As those who are chosen, blessed, broken, and given, we are called to live our lives with a deep inner joy and… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The great call for the Church is to not just be concerned about right or wrong behavior, which is moral life, but… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Our life is full of brokenness - broken relationships, broken promises, broken expectations. How can we live with that brokenness without becoming… — 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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
...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 Image
I have found it very important...to let go of my wishes and start hoping. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 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
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
