Henri Nouwen Quotes - Page 3

Quotes about:

• Jesus has to be and become ever more the center of my life. It is not enough that Jesus is my teacher, my guide, my source of inspiration. It is not even enough that he is my companion on they journey, my friend and my brother. Jesus must become the heart of my heart, the fire of my life, the love of my soul, the bridegroom of my spirit. He must become my only thought, my only concern, my only desire.

  Henri Nouwen

  Teacher, Brother, Jesus

  Henri J. M. Nouwen (1992). “Jesus and Mary: Finding Our Sacred Center”

  74 Copy quote

• Prayer is not what is done by us, but rather what is done by the Holy Spirit in us.

  Henri Nouwen

  Prayer, Done, Spirit

  53 Copy quote

• Those we most love cause us not only great joy but also great pain. LOVE is stronger than fear, life stronger than death, hope stronger than despair. We have to trust that the risk of loving is always worth taking.

  Henri Nouwen

  Pain, Positive Thinking, Love Is

  155 Copy quote

• My whole life I have been complaining
  that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered
  that my interruptions
  were my work.

  Henri Nouwen

  Complaining, Whole Life, Interruptions

  Henri Nouwen (2013). “Reaching Out”, p.51, Image

  163 Copy quote

• To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, welcome, to accept.

  Henri Nouwen

  Listening, Needs, Speech

  70 Copy quote

• We seldom realize fully that we are sent to fulfill God-given tasks. We act as if we were simply dropped down in creation and have to decide to entertain ourselves until we die. But we were sent into the world by God, just as Jesus was. Once we start living our lives with that conviction, we will soon know what we were sent to do.

  Henri Nouwen

  Jesus, Tasks, World

  Henri Nouwen (2013). “Discernment: Reading the signs of daily life”, p.129, SPCK

  21 Copy quote

• Spiritual maturity is not knowing what to do with your whole life, but just knowing what to do next.

  Henri Nouwen

  Spiritual, Maturity, Knowing

  62 Copy quote

• Every time there are losses, there are choices to be made. You choose to live your losses as passages to anger, blame, hatred, depression and resentment, or you choose to let these losses be passages to something new, something wider, and deeper.

  Henri Nouwen

  Love, Depression, Anger

  Henri J.M. Nouwen (2017). “You Are the Beloved: Daily Meditations for Spiritual Living”, Convergent Books

  407 Copy quote

• Compassion- which means, literally, "to suffer with"- is the way to the truth that we are most ourselves, not when we differ from others, but when we are the same. Indeed the main spiritual question is not, "What difference do you make?" but "What do you have in common?" It is not "excelling" but "serving" that makes us most human. It is not proving ourselves to be better than others but confessing to be just like others that is the way to healing and reconciliation.

  Henri Nouwen

  Spiritual, Healing, Mean

  58 Copy quote

• A friend is more than a therapist or confessor, even though a friend can sometimes heal us and offer us God's forgiveness. A friend is that other person with whom we can share our solitude, our silence, and our prayer. A friend is that other person with whom we can look at a tree and say, "Isn't that beautiful," or sit on the beach and silently watch the sun disappear under the horizon. With a friend we don't have to say or do something special. With a friend we can be still and know that God is there with both of us.

  Henri Nouwen

  Beautiful, Beach, Prayer

  116 Copy quote

• For as long as you can remember, you have been a pleaser, depending on others to give you an identity. You need not look at that only in a negative way. You wanted to give your heart to others, and you did so quickly and easily. But now you are being asked to let go of all these self-made props and trust that God is enough for you. You must stop being a pleaser and reclaim your identity as a free self.

  Henri Nouwen

  Letting Go, Heart, Remember You

  Henri Nouwen (2010). “The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom”, p.5, Image

  93 Copy quote

• If you feel loved, you can do a thousand things. If you feel rejected, everything becomes a problem.

  Henri Nouwen

  Problem, Rejected, Thousand

  Source: www.liguorian.org

  31 Copy quote

• The great illusion of leadership is to think that man can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there.

  Henri Nouwen

  Men, Thinking, Desert

  Henri Nouwen (2013). “The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society”, p.72, Image

  51 Copy quote

• However, community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another.
  Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of others more important than our own.
  The question, therefore, is not 'How can we make community?' but, 'How can we develop and nurture giving hearts?'

  Henri Nouwen

  Spiritual, Heart, Giving

  Henri J. M. Nouwen (2009). “Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith”, p.23, Harper Collins

  346 Copy quote

• Forgiveness changes the way we remember.

  Henri Nouwen

  Way, Remember

  Henri J. M. Nouwen (2009). “Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith”, p.29, Harper Collins

  40 Copy quote

• The farther the outward journey takes you, the deeper the inward journey must be.

  Henri Nouwen

  Journey, Inward, Deeper

  Henri Nouwen (2010). “The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom”, p.94, Image

  16 Copy quote

• Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let's not be afraid to receive each day's surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity.

  Henri Nouwen

  Heart, Joy, Humanity

  Henri J. M. Nouwen (2009). “Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith”, p.1, Harper Collins

  140 Copy quote

• Those who keep speaking about the sun while walking under a cloudy sky are messengers of hope, the true saints of our day.

  Henri Nouwen

  Sky, Saint, Messengers

  86 Copy quote

• Let us not underestimate how hard it is to be compassionate. Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely, and broken. But this is not our spontaneous response to suffering. What we desire most is to do away with suffering by fleeing from it or finding a quick cure for it.

  Henri Nouwen

  Lonely, Compassion, Broken

  Henri J. M. Nouwen (2016). “The Spiritual Life: Eight Essential Titles by Henri Nouwen”, p.20, HarperCollins

  42 Copy quote

• The more you have loved and have allowed yourself to suffer because of your love, the more you will be able to let your heart grow wider and deeper. When your love is truly giving and receiving, those whom you love will not leave your heart even when they depart from you. The pain of rejection, absence, and death can become fruitful. Yes, as you love deeply the ground of your heart will be broken more and more, but you will rejoice in the abundance of the fruit it will bear.

  Henri Nouwen

  Pain, Heart, Love Is

  61 Copy quote

• Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.

  Henri Nouwen

  Happiness, Opportunity, True Joy

  63 Copy quote

• To forgive another from the heart is an act of liberation. We set that person free from the negative bonds that exist between us. As long as we do not forgive we pull them with us, or worse, as a heavy load. The great temptation is to cling in anger to our enemies & then define ourselves as being offended & wounded by them. Forgiveness, therefore, liberates not only the other but also ourselves. It is the way to the freedom of the children of God.

  Henri Nouwen

  Children, Heart, Long

  15 Copy quote

• When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become.

  Henri Nouwen

  Wine, Thinking, Grapes

  62 Copy quote

• Our life is...a time in which sadness and joy kiss each other at every moment.

  Henri Nouwen

  Sadness, Kissing, Joy

  60 Copy quote

• Your heart is greater than your wounds.

  Henri Nouwen

  Heart, Greater, Wounds

  6 Copy quote

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