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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
I am beginning now to see how radically the character of my spiritual journey will change when I no longer think of… — 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
It's not easy to sit and trust that in solitude God will speak to you - not as a magical voice but… — 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
It is precisely in times of spiritual dryness that we must hold on to our spiritual discipline so that we can grow… — 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
