Henri Nouwen

“Much violence is based on the illusion that life is a property to be defended and not to be shared.”

“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.”

“Our first responsibility in the midst of violence is to prevent it from destroying us.”

“A life without a lonely place, that is, without a quiet center, becomes destructive.”

“To be a Christian who is willing to travel with Christ on his downward road requires being willing to detach oneself constantly from any need to be relevant, and to trust ever more deeply th...”

“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 mom...”

“Our efforts to disconnect ourselves from our own suffering end up disconnecting our suffering from God's suffering for us. The way out of our loss and hurt is in and through.”

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

“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.”

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

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

“Peacemaking is a full-time vocation that includes each member of God's people.”

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

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

“To learn patience is not to rebel against every hardship.”

“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...”

“Solitude is very different from a 'time-out' from our busy lives. Solitude is the very ground from which community grows. Whenever we pray alone, study, read, write, or simply spend quiet ti...”

“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 h...”

“The Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self. God loves us, not because of wha...”

“God is a God of the present. God is always in the moment, be that moment hard or easy, joyful and painful.”