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| Link | Quote | Stars | Tags | Author |
| a85e009 | 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.. | jesus mercy | Henri J.M. Nouwen | |
| 2a45f7f | 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.. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 9fe8194 | 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. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| df9069a | 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. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| d99556d | Active waiting is essential to the spiritual life. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| bb38af0 | 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. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 02de4f0 | 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.. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 646df25 | 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. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 504ddc8 | 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. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 8d4243a | 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. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| ad35a71 | 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. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 4d5c889 | 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." | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| a5e81fc | What I do know with unwavering certainty is the heart of the father. It is a heart of limitless mercy. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| b6a7f79 | 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." | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 4530c0a | 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. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| c1e31a1 | 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.. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| ab96dca | 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. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 2dabac6 | 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.. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 26da4e2 | Let's dare to enter into an intimate relationship with God without fear, trusting that we will receive love and always more love. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 6888736 | Time has to be converted, then, from chronos, mere chronological time, to kairos, a New Testament Greek word that has to do with opportunity, with moments that seem ripe for their intended purpose. Then, even while life continues to seem harried, while it continues to have hard moments, we say, "Something good is happening amid all this." We get glimpses of how God might be working out his purposes in our days. Time becomes not just somethi.. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 1806e71 | Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human." Henri J.M. .. | Glenn Langohr | ||
| 64fb311 | When God looks at our world, God must weep. God must weep because the lust for power has entrapped and corrupted the human spirit. In the news and even in our families and ourselves we see that instead of gratitude there is resentment, instead of forgiveness there is revenge, instead of healing there is wounding, instead of compassion there is competition, instead of cooperation there is violence, and instead of love there is immense fear. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 8d0faec | Our God is a God who cares, heals, guides, directs, challenges, confronts, corrects. To discern means first of all to listen to God, to pay attention to God's active presence, and to obey God's prompting, direction, leadings, and guidance. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 4ca7249 | When you can look into the face of another human being and you have enough light in you to recognize your brother or you sister. Until then it is night, and darkness is still with us. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 1a3fe8c | They discover that there are people who heal each other's wounds, forgive each other's offenses, share their possessions, foster the spirit of community, celebrate the gifts they have received, and live in constant anticipation of the full manifestation of God's glory. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 806edb6 | Jesus, the Son of God, is the man of sorrows, but also the man of complete joy. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| b99a085 | Our individual as well as communal lives are so deeply molded by our worries about tomorrow that today hardly can be experienced. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| c0b3c1e | When Jesus speaks about the world, he is very realistic. He speaks about wars and revolutions, earthquakes, plagues and famines, persecution and imprisonment, betrayal, hatred and assassinations. There is no suggestion at all that these signs of the world's darkness will ever be absent. But still, God's joy can be ours in the midst of it all. It is the joy of belonging to the household of God whose love is stronger than death and who empowe.. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 45843c5 | As long as we keep dividing our lives between events and people we would like to remember and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim the fullness of our beings as a gift of God to be grateful for. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 55f8767 | I am beginning to experience that an unconditional, total love of God makes a very articulate, alert, and attentive love for the neighbor possible. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 4644557 | Community has little to do with mutual compatibility. Similarities in educational background, psychological make-up, or social status can bring us together, but they can never be the basis for community. Community is grounded in God, who calls us together, and not in the attractiveness of people to each other. There | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| a5408da | Action with and for those who suffer is the concrete expression of the compassionate life and the final criterion of being a Christian. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 93552be | The joy at the dramatic return of the younger son in no way means that the elder son was less loved, less appreciated, less favored. The father does not compare the two sons. He loves them both with a complete love and expresses that love according to their individual journeys. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 9f2e40d | God is the hub of the wheel of life. The closer we come to God the closer we come to each other. The basis of community is not primarily our ideas, feelings, and emotions about each other but our common search for God. When we keep our minds and hearts directed toward God, we will come more fully "together." | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 729ee12 | Spiritual greatness has nothing to do with being greater than others. It has everything to do with being as great as each of us can be. True sanctity is precisely drinking our own cup and trusting that by thus fully claiming our own, irreplaceable journey, we can become a source of hope for many. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 50b9f1f | There is a place far down that is like a turbulent river, and that place frightens you. But do not fear. One day it will be quiet and peaceful. You have to keep moving, as you are doing. Live a faithful, disciplined life, a life that gives you a sense of inner strength, a life in which you can receive more and more of the love that comes to you. Wherever there is real love for you, take it and be strengthened by it. As your body, heart, and.. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| ea28120 | A large part of the father's life had been spent waiting. He could not force his younger son to come home or his older son to let go of his resentments. Only they themselves could take the initiative to return. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 0c07c43 | Therefore every real revolutionary is challenged to be a mystic at heart, and he who walks the mystical way is called to unmask the illusory quality of human society. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 8c699bb | 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? | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| d62ec08 | What is our task in this world as children of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus? Our task is reconciliation. Wherever we go we see divisions among people--in families, communities, cities, countries, and continents. All these divisions are tragic reflections of our separation from God. The truth that all people belong together as members of one family under God is seldom visible. Our sacred task is to reveal that truth in the reality of.. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| e1b1eab | Community thus is obedience practiced together. The question is not simply, "Where does God lead me as an individual person who tries to do his will?" More basic and more significant is the question, "Where does God lead us as a people?" This" | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| ed06469 | Jesus is deeply connected to the earth on which he walks. He observes the forces of nature, learns from them, teaches about them, and reveals that the God of Creation is the same God who sent him to give good news to the poor, sight to the blind, and freedom to the prisoners. He walks from village to village, sometimes alone and sometimes with others; as he walks, he meets the poor, the beggars, the blind, the sick, the mourners, and those .. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| c5d068c | Jesus does not speak about a change of activities, a change in contacts, or even a change of pace. He speaks about a change of heart. | Henri J.M. Nouwen | ||
| 9fb376e | 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. | Henri J.M. Nouwen |