Henri Nouwen
Henri Nouwen
Henri Jozef Machiel Nouwen,was a Dutch Catholic priest, professor, writer and theologian. His interests were rooted primarily in psychology, pastoral ministry, spirituality, social justice and community. Over the course of his life, Nouwen was heavily influenced by the work of Anton Boisen, Thomas Merton, Rembrandt, Vincent van Gogh and Jean Vanier...
NationalityDutch
ProfessionClergyman
Date of Birth24 January 1932
inspirational thinking way
You don't think your way into a new kind of living. You live your way into a new kind of thinking.
distance silence listening
Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cure.
friendship true-friend grief
The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing... not healing, not curing... that is a friend who cares.
heart thinking mind
What makes us human is not our mind but our heart, not our ability to think but our ability to love.
letting-go heart remember-you
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.
light becoming becoming-more
When we keep claiming the light, we will find ourselves becoming more and more radiant.
service-to-others wounds woundedness
The main question is not, how can we hide our wounds...but how can we put our woundedness in service to others.
love-you opportunity years
Life is just a little opportunity for you during a few years to say to God: 'I love you, too.'
mean darkness desperation
Hope means to keep living amid desperation and to keep humming in the darkness.
spiritual self listening
Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.
spiritual believe reality
...marriage is foremost a vocation. Two people are called together to fulfill a mission that God has given them. Marriage is a spiritual reality. That is to say, a man and a woman come together for life, not just because they experience deep love for each other, but because they believe that God loves each of them with an infinite love and has called them to each other to be living witnesses of that love. To love is to embody God's infinite love in a faithful communion with another human being.
letting-go jesus fall
Jesus.. says, 'Let go of your complaints, forgive those who loved you poorly, step over your feelings of being rejected, and have the courage to trust that you won't fall into an abyss of nothingness but into the safe embrace of a God whose love will heal all your wounds.
community church hunger-and-thirst
The church is not an institution forcing us to follow rules but a community inviting us to still our hunger and thirst at its table.
sadness kissing joy
Our life is...a time in which sadness and joy kiss each other at every moment.