Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the Beloved. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The spiritual life is a reaching out to our innermost self, to our fellow human and to our God. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
For many, religion has to do with what we are allowed to do and not allowed to do. In the end, that… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Although I am a committed Catholic priest, and nowhere hide that fact, my focus is very much a spiritual journey. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Joy is based on the spiritual knowledge that, while the world in which we live is shrouded in darkness, God has overcome… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Spiritual maturity is not knowing what to do with your whole life, but just knowing what to do next. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Ministry in no way is a privilege...it is the core of the Christian life. No Christian is a Christian without being a… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Ministry is the least important thing. You cannot not minister if you are in communion with God and live in community. — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Jesus didn't live alone. He had Peter, John, and James around him. There were the Twelve and the other disciples. They formed… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The question is not: How many people take you seriously? How much are you going to accomplish? Can you show some results?… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
As we read spiritually about spiritual things, we open our hearts to God's voice. Sometimes we must be willing to put down… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The evangelical movement has become just a bit victimized by a success-oriented culture, wanting the church - like the corporation - to… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Ministers are powerless people who have nothing to boast of except their weaknesses. But when the Lord whom they serve fills them… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
In a strange way the spiritual life isn't "useful" or "successful." But it is meant to be fruitful. And fruitfulness comes out… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
I have an increasing sense that the most important crisis of our time is spiritual and that we need places where people… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
For Jesus, there are no countries to be conquered, no ideologies to be imposed, no people to be dominated. There are only… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Perhaps nothing helps us make the movement from our little selves to a larger world than remembering God in gratitude. Such a… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
The mystery of the spiritual life is that Jesus desires to meet us in the seclusion of our own heart, to make… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Just as people can watch spellbound a circus artist tumbling through the air in a phosphorized costume, so they can listen to… — 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
But what I would like to say is that the spiritual life is a life in which you gradually learn to listen… — 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
The way of Jesus is radically different. It is the way not of upward mobility but of downward mobility. It is going… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
However, community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
“The church itself is a spiritual director. It tries to connect your story with God's story. Just to be a true part… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
“There seems to be a mountain of obstacles preventing people from being where their hearts want to be. It is so painful… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
A little criticism makes me angry, and a little rejection makes me depressed. A little praise raises my spirits, and a little… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
One way to express the spiritual crisis of our time is to say that most of us have an address but cannot… — 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
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
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
Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves… — 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
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
For me the university has always been an ideal context for spiritual formation. I always felt that if you want to offer… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
When we approach fundraising in a spirit of gratitude, our confidence in our mission does not depend on how the person we… — Henri Nouwen Copy Share Image
Community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for… — 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
