People who pray stand receptive before the world. They no longer grab but caress, they no longer bite but kiss, they no… — 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 people who most affected me were the ones who got right in there with me, who cried with me, but who… — 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
Live, work, and travel with handicapped people, so I can stay close to them. But since I am often busy with many… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Television is obviously an enormous intruder. Quite often people say they have no time, but in fact they waste a lot of… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The most important thing I've come to believe in is that people with mental handicaps have a unique mission to bring God's… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Ministers are tempted to join the ranks of those who consider it their primary task to keep other people busy … But… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
It is hard to bear with people who stand still along the way, lose heart, and seek their happiness in little pleasures… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Living in a community with very wounded people, I came to see that I had lived most of my life as a… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Real greatness is often humble, simple, and unobtrusive. It is not easy to trust ourselves and our actions without public affirmation. Some… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
L'Arche is not a service institution or a group home. It is a community that exists to reveal God's love. Our people… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The central question is, Are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God, people with an ardent desire to… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
People who have known the joy of God point each other to flashes of light here and there, and remind each other… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Lord Jesus, master of both the light and the darkness, send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas. We whose hearts… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Most Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
In other words, first we must call people to communion with God, to intimacy with God, to a sense of belonging. Most… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
All the great spiritual leaders in history were people of hope. Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Mary, Jesus, Rumi, Gandhi, and Dorothy Day all… — 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
Ministry is a very confronting service. It does not allow people to live with illusions of immortality and wholeness. It keeps reminding… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
When we have nothing to cling to as our own and cease thinking of ourselves as people who must defend privileges, we… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Nobody escapes being wounded. We are all wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not, 'How can… — 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
Those who are marginal in the world are central in the Church, and that is how it is supposed to be! Thus… — 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
As long as our restlessness, anxiety, and feelings of guilt dominate our work as peacemakers we cannot last long. But when we… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
One of the most beautiful ways for spiritual formation to take place is to let your insecurity lead you closer to the… — 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
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
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
...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
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
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
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
“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
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
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
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… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share
In a world so torn apart by rivalry, anger, and hatred, we have the privileged vocation to be living signs of a love that… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share
Where true inner freedom is, there is God. And where God is, there we want to be. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share
