Quote

To be a minister means above all to become powerless, or in more precise terms, to speak with our powerlessness to the condition of powerlessness which is so keenly felt but so seldom expressed by the people of our age.

Henri Nouwen

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Henri Nouwen
Age: 64 †
Born: 1932
Born: January 24
Died: 1996
Died: September 21
Catholic Priest
Presbyter
Priest
Psychologist
Theologian
University Teacher
Writer
Henri Jozef Machiel Nouwen
People
Conditions
Powerless
Term
Expressed
Age
Minister
Means
Precise
Speak
Seldom
Felt
Ministers
Become
Condition
Keenly
Mean
Terms
Powerlessness

More quotes by Henri Nouwen

Image
My hope is that the description of God's love in my life will give you the freedom and the courage to discover... God's love in yours.
Henri Nouwen
Image
Prayer is first of all listening to God. It's openness. God is always speaking he's always doing something.
Henri Nouwen
Image
In our production-oriented society, being busy, having an occupation, has become one of the main ways, if not the main way, of identifying ourselves. Without an occupation, not just our economic security but our very identity is endangered.
Henri Nouwen
Image
To give someone a blessing is the most significant affirmation we can offer.
Henri Nouwen
Image
Although we tend to think about saints as holy and pious, and picture them with halos above their heads and ecstatic gazes, true saints are much more accessible. They are men and women like us, who live ordinary lives and struggle with ordinary problems. What makes them saints is their clear and unwavering focus on God and God's people.
Henri Nouwen
Image
It is by chance that we met, by choice that we became friends.
Henri Nouwen
Image
It is God’s passionate pursuit of us that calls us to prayer.
Henri Nouwen
Image
As peacemakers, we must resist all the powers of war and destruction and proclaim that peace is the divine gift offered to all who affirm life. Resistance means saying 'No' to all the forces of death, wherever they may be.
Henri Nouwen
Image
I still believe that the university is a place where people can develop their minds and learn skills, but also they can develop their personalities and their spiritual life.
Henri Nouwen
Image
The most important thing I've come to believe in is that people with mental handicaps have a unique mission to bring God's blessing to the World.
Henri Nouwen
Image
Our society is so fragmented, our family lives so sundered by physical and emotional distance, our friendships so sporadic, our intimacies so 'in-between' things and often so utilitarian, that there are few places where we can feel truly safe.
Henri Nouwen
Image
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 what we do or accomplish, but because God has created and redeemed us in love.
Henri Nouwen
Image
One of the most satisfying aspects of writing is that it can open in us deep wells of hidden treasures that are beautiful for us as well as for others to see.
Henri Nouwen
Image
A prayerful life is not a life in which we say many prayers, but a life in which nothing, absolutely nothing, is done, said, or understood independently of him who is the origin and purpose of our existence.
Henri Nouwen
Image
From the moment we claim the truth of being the beloved, we are faced with the call to become who we are.
Henri Nouwen
Image
I often wonder if my knowledge about God has not become my greatest stumbling block to my knowledge of God.
Henri Nouwen
Image
Gratitude flows from the recognition that who we are and what we have are gifts to be received and shared.
Henri Nouwen
Image
Learning to weep, learning to keep vigil, learning to wait for the dawn. Perhaps this is what it means to be human.
Henri Nouwen
Image
Our glory is hidden in our pain, if we allow God to bring the gift of himself in our experience of it.
Henri Nouwen
Image
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.
Henri Nouwen