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" Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cure. "

Henri Nouwen

Meaning

Words

Silence

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" Friendship has always belonged to the core of my spiritual journey. "

" As peacemakers, we must resist all the powers of war and destruction and proclaim that peace is the divine gift offered to all who affirm life. Resistance means saying 'No' to all the forces of death, wherever they may be. "

" One of the main tasks of theology is to find words that do not divide but unite, that do not create conflict but unity, that do not hurt but heal. "

" Most Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power and control instead. Many Christian empire-builders have been people unable to give and receive love. "

" Waiting is a period of learning. The longer we wait, the more we hear about him for whom we are waiting. "

Henri Nouwen

Him

Learning

" I have an increasing sense that the most important crisis of our time is spiritual and that we need places where people can grow stronger in the spirit and be able to integrate the emotional struggles in their spiritual journeys. "

" When we have nothing to cling to as our own and cease thinking of ourselves as people who must defend privileges, we can open ourselves freely to others with the faithful expectation that our strength will manifest itself in our shared weakness. "

" Asking people for money is giving them the opportunity to put their resources at the disposal of the Kingdom. "

" The Christian leaders of the future have to be theologians, persons who know the heart of God and are trained - through prayer, study, and careful analysis - to manifest the divine event of God's saving work in the midst of the many seemingly random events of their time. "

" If fear is the great enemy of intimacy, love is its true friend. "

" Ministers are powerless people who have nothing to boast of except their weaknesses. But when the Lord whom they serve fills them with His blessing they will move mountains and change the hearts of people wherever they go. "

Henri Nouwen

Change

Blessing

" The real enemies of our life are the 'oughts' and the 'ifs.' They pull us backward into the unalterable past and forward into the unpredictable future. But real life takes place in the here and now. "

" When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. "

" Fear is the great enemy of intimacy. Fear makes us run away from each other or cling to each other but does not create true intimacy. "

" I've had a tremendous problem with depression in my life. I'd rather not talk about it, because it's over. But depression is real. "

" Discipline means to prevent everything in your life from being filled up. Discipline means that somewhere you're not occupied, and certainly not preoccupied. In the spiritual life, discipline means to create that space in which something can happen that you hadn't planned or counted on. "

" Jesus didn't say, 'Blessed are those who care for the poor.' He said, 'Blessed are we where we are poor, where we are broken.' It is there that God loves us deeply and pulls us into deeper communion with himself. "

" Ministry is the least important thing. You cannot not minister if you are in communion with God and live in community. "

" Too many of us are lonely ministers practicing a lonely ministry. "

" One of the most beautiful ways for spiritual formation to take place is to let your insecurity lead you closer to the Lord. Natural hypersensitivity can become an asset; it makes you aware of your need to be with people and it allows you to be more willing to look at their needs. "

" The resistance to praying is like the resistance of tightly clenched fists. This image shows a tension, a desire to cling tightly to yourself, a greediness which betrays fear. "

Henri Nouwen

Desire

Fear

" The fruits of your labors may be reaped two generations from now. Trust, even when you don't see the results. "

" To learn patience is not to rebel against every hardship. "

" Our inclination is to show our Lord only what we feel comfortable with. But the more we dare to reveal our whole trembling self to him, the more we will be able to sense that his love, which is perfect love, casts out all our fears. "

" The journey from teaching about love to allowing myself to be loved proved much longer than I realised. "

" Living in a community with very wounded people, I came to see that I had lived most of my life as a tightrope artist trying to walk on a high, thin cable from one tower to the other, always waiting for the applause when I had not fallen off and broken my leg. "

" Perhaps nothing helps us make the movement from our little selves to a larger world than remembering God in gratitude. Such a perspective puts God in view in all of life, not just in the moments we set aside for worship or spiritual disciplines. Not just in the moments when life seems easy. "

" When you recognize the festive and the still moments as moments of prayer, then you gradually realize that to pray is to live. "

" In our production-oriented society, being busy, having an occupation, has become one of the main ways, if not the main way, of identifying ourselves. Without an occupation, not just our economic security but our very identity is endangered. "

" In their poverty, the mentally handicapped reveal God to us and hold us close to the gospel. "

Henri Nouwen

Gospel

Reveal