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
Community means that people come together around the table, not just to feed their bodies, but to feed their minds and their… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Active waiting means present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Spiritual identity means we are not what we do or what people say about us. And we are not what we have.… — 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
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
Obviously a child can never conceive solitude if his parents aren't living it somewhere themselves. I don't mean that to be alone… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Ministry means the ongoing attempt to put one's own search for God, with all the moments of pain and joy, despair and… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Lifting our cup means sharing our life so we can celebrate it. When we truly believe we are called to lay down… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Discipline means to prevent everything in your life from being filled up. Discipline means that somewhere you're not occupied, and certainly not… — 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
When you're on the bus or subway or in your car, why busy your mind with all the garbage of advertisements? Why… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Life is precious. Not because it is unchangeable, like a diamond, but because it is vulnerable, like a little bird. To love… — 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
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
To be a minister means above all to become powerless, or in more precise terms, to speak with our powerlessness to the… — 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
Jesus invites us to abide in his love. That means to dwell with all that I am in him. It is an… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
A sense of solitude is one of the most beautiful things that parents can give a child. It doesn't mean leaving the… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those… — 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
