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Prayer helps us overcome the fear that is related to building our life just on the interpersonal--"What does he or she think of me? Who is my friend? Who is my enemy? Whom do I like? Dislike? Who rewards me? Punishes me? Says good things about me? Or doesn't?" We are concerned about personal identity and distinctions from others. As long as our sense of self depends on what other people think about us and say about us, and on how they respo..
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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a3f0baa
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Drinking the cup of life is fully appropriating and internalizing our own unique existence, with all its sorrows and joys. It is not easy to do this. For a long time we might not feel capable of accepting our own life; we might keep fighting for a better or at least a different life.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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A good host is the one who believes that his guest is carrying a promise he wants to reveal to anyone who shows genuine interest.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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We will never believe that we have anything to give unless there is someone who is able to receive.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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Today worrying means to be occupied and preoccupied with many things, while at the same time being bored, resentful, depressed, and very lonely.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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202c3d5
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Those who do not run away from our pains but touch them with compassion bring healing and new strength. The paradox indeed is that the beginning of healing is in the solidarity with the pain. In
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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f52b2bc
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For me, God is the one who calls me the Beloved, and I have a desire to express to others how I try to become more fully who I already am.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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When we keep claiming the light, we will find ourselves becoming more and more radiant.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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Secularity is a way of being dependent on the responses of our milieu. The secular or false self is the self which is fabricated, as Thomas Merton says, by social compulsions. "Compulsive" is indeed the best adjective for the false self. It points to the need for ongoing and increasing affirmation. Who am I? I am the one who is liked, praised, admired, disliked, hated or despised. Whether I am a pianist, a businessman or a minister, what ma..
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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0e7f240
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For many of us prayer means nothing more than speaking with God. And since it usually seems to be a quite one-sided affair, prayer simply means talking to God. This idea is enough to create great frustrations. If I present a problem, I expect a solution; if I formulate a question, I expect an answer; if I ask for guidance, I expect a response. And when it seems, increasingly, that I am talking into the dark, it is not so strange that I soon..
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talking-to-god
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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65a3bae
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Spiritual formation prepares us for a life in which we move away from our fears, compulsions, resentments, and sorrows, to serve with joy and courage in the world, even when this leads us to places we would rather not go. Spiritual formation helps us to see the face of God in the midst of a hardened world and in our own heart. This freedom helps us to use our skills and our very lives to make that face visible to all who live in bondage and..
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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Where does my complete flowering as a human being connect with the needs of the world?
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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Trust in God allows us to live with active expectation, not cynicism.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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Lifting our cup means sharing our life so we can celebrate it. When we truly believe we are called to lay down our lives for our friends, we must dare to take the risk to let others know what we are living.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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But in Solitude, we can pay attention to our inner self
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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Have courage" therefore means "Let your center speak."
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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Yet why all this resistance? Why this powerful attraction to the darkness? Jesus says, "Everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, to prevent his actions from being shown up; but whoever does the truth comes out into the light, so that what he is doing may plainly appear as done in God" (John 3:20-21). That is an answer to my question. I do often prefer my darkness to God's light. I prefer to hang on to my sinful ways because t..
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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When we worry, we have our hearts in the wrong place.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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We are called to witness, always with our lives and sometimes with our words, to the great things God has done for us.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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Life in the Spirit of Jesus is therefore a life in which Jesus' coming into the world--his incarnation, his death, and resurrection--is lived out by those who have entered into the same obedient relationship to the Father which marked Jesus' own life. Having become sons and daughters as Jesus was Son, our lives become a continuation of Jesus' mission.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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The Creator of the galaxies lives, whispers uniquely good things about us in our hearts, and urges us to rise up and use our freedom to become compassionate peacemakers in our world. This bond of love that touches each one of our lives from the very beginning of our creation to the very end of time and beyond is our original blessing. When you and I are home in this relationship, we find ourselves in the heart of the One that Jesus addresse..
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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Spiritual reading, therefore, is slow, deliberate, meditative reading in which we allow the words to penetrate our heart and question our spirit.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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The return to the "Father from whom all fatherhood takes its name" allows me to let my dad be no less than the good, loving, but limited human being he is, and to let my heavenly Father be the God whose unlimited, unconditional love melts away all resentments and anger and makes me free to love beyond the need to please or find approval."
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fatherhood
god
parents
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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794b504
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we are usually surrounded by so much inner and outer noise that it is hard to truly hear our God when he is speaking to us.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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More enslaving than our occupations, however, are our preoccupations. To be pre-occupied means to fill our time and place long before we are there. This is worrying in the more specific sense of the word. It is a mind filled with "ifs." We say to ourselves, "What if I get the flu? What if I lose my job? What if my child is not home on time? What if there is not enough food tomorrow? What if I am attacked? What if a war starts? What if the w..
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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Jesus, the Blessed Child of God, is merciful. Showing mercy is different from having pity. Pity connotes distance, even looking down upon. When a beggar asks for money and you give him something out of pity, you are not showing mercy. Mercy comes from a compassionate heart; it comes from a desire to be an equal. Jesus didn't want to look down on us. He wanted to become one of us and feel deeply with us. When Jesus called the only son of the..
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jesus
mercy
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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Sometimes it seems as if our society has become dependent on the maintenance of these artificial worries. What would happen if we stopped worrying? If the urge to be entertained so much, to travel so much, to buy so much, and to arm ourselves so much no longer motivated our behavior, could our society as it is today still function? The tragedy is that we are indeed caught in a web of false expectations and contrived needs. Our occupations a..
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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Our salvation comes from something small, tender, and vulnerable, something hardly noticeable. The Lord, who is the creator of the universe, comes to us in smallness, weakness, and hiddenness.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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When we are alone with God, the Spirit prays in us. The challenge is to develop a simple discipline or spiritual practice to embrace some empty time and empty space every day.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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Active waiting is essential to the spiritual life.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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Waiting patiently is suffering through the present moment, tasting it to the fullest in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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Jesus, however, took upon himself all this suffering and lifted it up on the cross, not as a curse but as a blessing. Jesus made the cup of God's wrath into a cup of blessings. That's the mystery of the Eucharist. Jesus died for us so that we may live. He poured out his blood for us so that we may find new life. He gave himself away for us, so that we can live in community. He became for us food and drink so that we can be fed for everlasti..
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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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.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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504ddc8
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Jesus wants to make it clear that the God of whom he speaks is a God of compassion who joyously welcomes repentant sinners into his house.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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8d4243a
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I realized that healing begins with our taking our pain out of its diabolic isolation and seeing that whatever we suffer, we suffer it in communion with all of humanity, and yes, all of creation. In so doing, we become participants in the great battle against the powers of darkness. Our little lives participate in something larger.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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ad35a71
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God is the father who watches and waits for his children, runs out to meet them, embraces them, pleads with them, begs and urges them to come home.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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4d5c889
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Jesus goes up onto the mountain, gathers his disciples around him, and says: "How blessed are the poor, the gentle, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for uprightness, the merciful, the pure of heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness." These words present a portrait of the child of God. It is a self-portrait of Jesus, the Beloved Son."
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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What I do know with unwavering certainty is the heart of the father. It is a heart of limitless mercy.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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I can only be healed from above, from where God reaches down. What is impossible for me is possible for God. "With God, everything is possible."
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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4530c0a
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Radical servanthood challenges us, while attempting persistently to overcome poverty, hunger, illness, and any other form of human misery, to reveal the gentle presence of our compassionate God in the midst of our broken world.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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c1e31a1
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As long as religious people are well dressed, well fed, and well cared for, words about being in solidarity with the poor will remain pious words more likely to evoke good feelings than creative actions. As long as we are doing well what others are doing better and more efficiently, we can hardly expect to be considered the salt of the earth or the light of the world. In short, as long as we avoid displacement, we will miss the compassionat..
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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ab96dca
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As the Father, I have to dare to carry the responsibility of a spiritually adult person and dare to trust that the real joy and real fulfillment can only come from welcoming home those who have been hurt and wounded on their life's journey, and loving them with a love that neither asks nor expects anything in return.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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Look, my soul, at the way one human being tries to inflict as much pain on another as possible; look at these people plotting to bring harm to their fellows; look at these parents molesting their children; look at this landowner exploiting his workers; look at the violated women, the misused men, the abandoned children. Look, my soul, at the world; see the concentration camps, the prisons, the nursing homes, the hospitals, and hear the crie..
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |
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26da4e2
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Let's dare to enter into an intimate relationship with God without fear, trusting that we will receive love and always more love.
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Henri J.M. Nouwen |