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eeaaea8
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when two people have become present to each other, the waiting of one must be able to cross the narrow line between the living or dying of the other.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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3e1c9c7
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real care means the willingness to help each other in making our brokenness into the gateway to joy.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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e3611ff
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We may be little, insignificant servants in the eyes of a world motivated by efficiency, control and success. But when we realize that God has chosen us from all eternity, sent us into the world as the blessed ones, handed us over to suffering, can't we, then, also trust that our little lives will multiply themselves and be able to fulfill the needs of countless people?
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god-s-children
the-church
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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f722ded
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The main question is "Do you own your pain?" As long as you do not own your pain--that is, integrate your pain into your way of being in the world--the danger exists that you will use the other to seek healing for yourself. When you speak to others about your pain without fully owning it, you expect something from them that they cannot give. As a result, you will feel frustrated, and those you wanted to help will feel confused, disappointed..
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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a76d970
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Prayer is the center of the Christian life. It is the only necessary thing. It is living with God in the here and now.
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prayer
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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f548f8e
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To die to our neighbors means to stop judging them, to stop evaluating them, and thus to become free to be compassionate. Compassion can never coexist with judgment because judgment creates the distance, the distinction, which prevents us from really being with the other.
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solidarity
the-other
judgment
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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235a29a
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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.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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9354952
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Jesus was a revolutionary, who did not become an extremist, since he did not offer an ideology, but Himself.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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32f5560
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You keep listening to those who seem to reject you. But they never speak about you. They speak about their own limitations. They confess their poverty in the face of your needs and desires. They simply ask for your compassion. They do not say that you are bad, ugly, or despicable. They say only that you are asking for something they cannot give and that they need to get some distance from you to survive emotionally. The sadness is that you ..
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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d12705b
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The farther I run away from the place where God dwells, the less I am able to hear the voice that calls me the Beloved, and the less I hear that voice, the more entangled I become in the manipulations and power games of the world.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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6e64343
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Intimacy between people requires closeness as well as distance. It is like dancing. Sometimes we are very close, touching each other or holding each other; sometimes we move away from each other and let the space between us become an area where we can freely move. To keep the right balance between closeness and distance requires hard work, especially since the needs of the partners may be quite different at a given moment. One might desire ..
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solitude
relationships
vulnerability
intimacy
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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606b413
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In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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442c76e
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The beginning and the end of all Christian leadership is to give your life for others.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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6bb9ad9
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While optimism makes us live as if someday soon things will soon go better for us, hope frees us from the need to predict the future and allows us to live in the present, with the deep trust that God will never leave us alone but will fulfill the deepest desires of our heart... Joy in this perspective is the fruit of hope.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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481f926
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a spiritual life without prayer is like the gospel without Christ.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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cfe9ab3
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Solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self. Jesus himself entered into this furnace. There he was tempted with the three compulsions of the world: to be relevant ('turn stones into loaves'), to be spectacular ('throw yourself down'), and to be powerful ('I will give you all these kingdoms'). There he affirmed God as the only sou..
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solitude
jesus
transformation
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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64fd232
|
Those who really can receive bread from a stranger and smile in gratitude, can feed many without even realizing it. Those who can sit in silence with their fellow man not knowing what to say but knowing that they should be there, can bring new life in a dying heart. Those who are not afraid to hold a hand in gratitude, to shed tears in grief, and to let a sigh of distress arise straight from the heart, can break through paralyzing boundarie..
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pain
gratitude
empathy
compassion
priesthood-of-all-believers
ministry
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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28e0424
|
Am I afraid to die? I am every time I let myself be seduced by the noisy voices of my world telling me that my "little life" is all I have and advising me to cling to it with all my might. But when I let these voices move to the background of my life and listen to that small soft voice calling me the Beloved, I know that there is nothing to fear and that dying is the greatest act of love, the act that leads me into the eternal embrace of my..
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fear
eternity
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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aa2996e
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Leaving home is living as though I do not yet have a home, and must look far and wide to find one. Home is the center of my being, where I can hear the voice that says, "You are my beloved. On you my favor rests," the same voice that gave life to the first Adam and spoke to Jesus, the second Adam. The same voice that speaks to all the children of God and sets them free to live in the midst of a dark world while remaining in the light. I hav..
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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e10f973
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But mortification - literally, "making death" - is what life is all about, a slow discovery of the mortality of all that is created so that we can appreciate its beauty without clinging to it as if it were a lasting possession. Our lives can indeed be seen as a process of becoming familiar with death, as a school in the art of dying . . . all these times have passed by like friendly visitors, leaving you with dear memories but also with the..
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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b2e20bb
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The mystery of ministry is that we have been chosen to make our own limited and very conditional love the gateway for the unlimited and unconditional love of GOD...people who are so deeply in love with JESUS that they are ready to follow HIM wherever HE guides them, always trusting that, with HIM, they will find life and find it abundantly
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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8a6ae1f
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Although claiming my true identity as a child of God, I still live as though the God to whom I am returning demands an explanation. I still think about his love as conditional and about home as a place I am not yet fully sure of. While walking home, I keep entertaining doubts about whether I will be truly welcome when I get there. As I look at my spiritual journey, my long and fatiguing trip home, I see how full it is of guilt about the pas..
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identity
god
love
sonship
worthlessness
doubts
failures
grace
dignity
worry
worries
home
son
failure
guilt
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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88cb9f0
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experience tells us that we can only love because we are born out of love, that we can only give because our life is a gift, and that we can only make others free because we are set free by Him whose heart is greater than ours. When we have found the anchor places for our lives in our own center, we can be free to let others enter into the space created for them and allow them to dance their own dance, sing their own song and speak their ow..
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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9b01493
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Jesus changes our history from a random series of sad incidents and accidents into a constant opportunity for a change of heart.
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jesus
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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2b8c831
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By prayer, community is created as well as expressed.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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095b017
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Many of my daily preoccupations suggest that I belong more to the world than to God. A little criticism makes me angry, and a little rejection makes me depressed. A little praise raises my spirits, and a little success excites me. It takes very little to raise me up or thrust me down. Often I am like a small boat on the ocean, completely at the mercy of its waves. All the time and energy I spend in keeping some kind of balance and preventin..
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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be13f91
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Often love is offered to you, but you do not recognize it. You discard it because you are fixed on receiving it from the same person to whom you gave it.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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553c61a
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It is my growing conviction that my life belongs to others just as much as it belongs to myself and that what is experienced as most unique often proves to be most solidly embedded in the common condition of being human.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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c4a698d
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In the midst of a turbulent, often chaotic, life we are called to reach out, with courageous honesty to our innermost self, with relentless care to our fellow human beings, and with increasing prayer to our God.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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9a93b8c
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We become neighbors when we are willing to cross the road for one another. (...) There is a lot of road crossing to do. We are all very busy in our own circles. We have our own people to go to and our own affairs to take care of. But if we could cross the road once in a while and pay attention to what is happening on the other side, we might indeed become neighbors.
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compassion
love
busy
love-your-neighbor
neighbors
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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226d9c7
|
Because where God wants you to be, God holds you safe and gives you peace, even when there is pain.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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c2126a2
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I now see that the hands that forgive, console, heal, and offer a festive meal must become my own.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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3c23a9e
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This leaves us with the urgent question: How can we be or become a caring community, a community of people not trying to cover the pain or to avoid it by sophisticated bypasses, but rather share it as the source of healing and new life? It is important to realize that you cannot get a Ph.D. in caring, that caring cannot be delegated by specialists, and that therefore nobody can be excused from caring. Still, in a society like ours, we have ..
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priesthood-of-all-believers
ministry
specialization
church
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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b7ad89c
|
Often we want to be somewhere other than where we are, to even to be someone other than who we are. We tend to compare ourselves constantly with others and wonder why we are not as rich, as intelligent, as simple, as generous, or as saintly as they are. Such comparisons make us feel guilty, ashamed, or jealous. It is very important to realize that our vocation is hidden in where we are and who we are. We are unique human beings, each with a..
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vocation
uniqueness
comparison
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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dbdc242
|
People who have come to know the joy of God do not deny the darkness, but they choose not to live in it. They claim that the light that shines in the darkness can be trusted more than the darkness itself and that a little bit of light can dispel a lot of darkness. They point each other to flashes of light here and there, and remind each other that they reveal the hidden but real presence of God.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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c6fd8d4
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God's love for us is everlasting. That means that God's love for us existed before we were born and will exist after we have died. It is an eternal love in which we are embraced. Living a spiritual life calls us to claim that eternal love for ourselves so that we can live our temporal loves - for parents, brothers, sisters, teachers, friends, spouses, and all people who become part of our lives - as reflections or refractions of God's etern..
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relationships
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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40203a6
|
The leap of faith always means loving without expecting to be loved in return, giving without wanting to receive, inviting without hoping to be invited, holding without asking to be held. And every time I make a little leap, I catch a glimpse of the One who runs out to me and invites me into his joy, the joy in which I can find not only myself, but also my brothers and sisters. Thus the disciplines of trust and gratitude reveal the God who ..
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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90a6d99
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To the degree that we embrace the truth that our identity is not rooted in our success, power, or popularity, but in God's infinite love, to that degree can we let go of our need to judge.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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5c1c47e
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We have to keep asking ourselves: 'What does it all mean? What is God trying to tell us? How are we called to live in the midst of all this?' Without such questions our lives become numb and flat.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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512bece
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You can only seek God when you have already found God. The desire for God's unconditional love is the fruit of having been touched by that love.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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5538a73
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Many voices ask for our attention. There is a voice that says, 'Prove that you are a good person.' Another voice says, 'You'd better be ashamed of yourself.' There also is a voice that says, 'Nobody really cares about you,' and one that says, 'Be sure to become successful, popular, and powerful.' But underneath all these often very noisy voices is a still, small voice that says, 'You are my Beloved, my favor rests on you.' That's the voice ..
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solitude
silence
prayer
god
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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5fce873
|
Exhaustion, burnout, and depression are not signs that you are doing God's will. God is gentle and loving. God desires to give you a deep sense of safety in God's love. Once you have allowed yourself to experience that love fully, you will be better able to discern who you are being sent to in God's name.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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ddfe8eb
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There is within you a lamb and a lion. Spiritual maturity is the ability to let lamb and lion lie down together.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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9946fc7
|
Being with a friend in great pain is not easy. It makes us uncomfortable. We do not know what to do or what to say, and we worry about how to respond to what we hear. Our temptation is to say things that come more out of our own fear than out of our care for the person in pain. Sometimes we say things like 'Well, you're doing a lot better than yesterday,' or 'You will soon be your old self again,' or 'I'm sure you will get over this.' But o..
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friendship
presence
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |