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Pain Quotes by Henri Nouwen

22 Pain quotes by Henri Nouwen

All Pain quotes Henri Nouwen’s page

Henri Nouwen treats pain as a doorway rather than a dead end. Across 22 reflections, he balances raw honesty with a quiet reverence, showing how wounds can deepen faith and connection. If you’re looking for a thoughtful, soul‑ful perspective on hardship, these lines provide a gentle compass.

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Friends share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand.

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Our glory is hidden in our pain, if we allow God to bring the gift of himself in our experience of it.

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The pain that comes from deep love makes your love more fruitful. It is like a plow that breaks the ground to…

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Those we most love cause us not only great joy but also great pain. LOVE is stronger than fear, life stronger than…

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Ministry means the ongoing attempt to put one's own search for God, with all the moments of pain and joy, despair and…

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When we become aware that we do not have to escape our pains, but that we can mobilize them into a common…

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The dance of life finds its beginnings in grief…Here a completely new way of living is revealed. It is the way in…

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Through prayer we can carry in our heart all human pain and sorrow, all conflicts and agonies, all torture and war, all…

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Any dance of celebration must weave both the sorrows and the blessings into a joyful step…To heal is to let the Holy…

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When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those…

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In this crazy world, there's an enormous distinction between good times and bad, between sorrow and joy. But in the eyes of…

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Suffering invites us to place our hurts in larger hands. In Christ we see God suffering – for us. And calling us…

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The more you have loved and have allowed yourself to suffer because of your love, the more you will be able to…

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You have to dare to live through the pain and struggle. Acknowledge your anguish but do not let it pull you out…

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Real grief is not healed by time... if time does anything, it deepens our grief. The longer we live, the more fully…

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Think of each wound as you would of a child who has been hurt by a friend. As long as that child…

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“Learn the discipline of being surprised not by suffering but by joy. As we grow old, there is suffering ahead of us,…

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“Every time we make the decision to love someone, we open ourselves to great suffering, because those we most love cause us…

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If you feel a great loneliness and a deep longing for human contact, you have to be extremely discerning...and ask yourself whether…

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Be surprised by joy, be surprised by the little flower that shows its beauty in the midst of a barren desert, and…

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The spiritual life is not a life before, after, or beyond our everyday existence. No, the spiritual life can only be real…

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The friend who cares makes it clear that whatever happens in the external world, being present to each other is what really…

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More by Henri Nouwen

We are not the healers, we are not the reconcilers, we are not the givers of life. We are sinful, broken, vulnerable people who…

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The more we touch the intimate love of God which creates, sustains, and guides us, the more we recognize the multitude of fruits that…

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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…

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...we all want to hear stories, from the moment we are born to the moment we die. Stories connect our little lives with the…

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I have found it very important...to let go of my wishes and start hoping.

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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…

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Somewhere we know that without silence, words lose their meaning.

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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…

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This sounds very simple and maybe even trite, but very few people know that they are loved without condition or limits.

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“The more preoccupied we are with security the more visible the force of death becomes, whether in the form of a pistol beside our…

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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…

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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.

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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…

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In a world so torn apart by rivalry, anger, and hatred, we have the privileged vocation to be living signs of a love that…

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Where true inner freedom is, there is God. And where God is, there we want to be.

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