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As ministers our greatest temptation is toward too many words. They weaken our faith and make us lukewarm. But silence is a sacred discipline, a guard of the Holy Spirit.

Henri Nouwen

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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
Silence
Weaken
Greatest
Guard
Faith
Ministers
Words
Temptation
Spirit
Sacred
Many
Discipline
Make
Toward
Holy
Lukewarm

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What is forgotten cannot be healed, and that which cannot be healed easily becomes the cause of greater evil.
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We cannot make it rain but we can see to it that the rain falls on prepared soil.
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Joy and laughter are the gifts of living in the presence of God and trusting that tomorrow is not worth worrying about.
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Solitude is the place of purification and transformation, the place of the great struggle and the great encounter.
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Our lives are unique stones in the mosaic of human existence -- priceless and irreplaceable.
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It is precisely in times of spiritual dryness that we must hold on to our spiritual discipline so that we can grow into new intimacy with God.
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I often wonder if my knowledge about God has not become my greatest stumbling block to my knowledge of God.
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A waiting person is a patient person. The word patience means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us.
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'How much longer will I live?'... Only one thing seems clear to me. Every day should be well-lived. What a simple truth! Still, it is worthy of my attention.
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Prayer is the breath of your life which gives you the freedom to go and stay where you wish and to find the many signs which point out the way to a new land.
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When we have nothing to cling to as our own and cease thinking of ourselves as people who must defend privileges, we can open ourselves freely to others with the faithful expectation that our strength will manifest itself in our shared weakness.
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Compassion can never coexist with judgement because judgement creates the distance, the distinction, which prevents us from really being with the other.
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Although I am a committed Catholic priest, and nowhere hide that fact, my focus is very much a spiritual journey.
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Pay attention to the people God puts in your path if you want to discern what God is up to in your life.
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Is my growing old making me any closer to Christ? Am I only getting older or am I getting more godly?
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The farther the outward journey takes you, the deeper the inward journey must be.
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In God's eyes the most significant is often the most hidden.
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Although many, we might even say most, strangers in this world become easily the victim of a fearful hostility, it is possible for men and women and obligatory for Christians to offer an open and hospitable space where strangers can cast off their strangeness and become our fellow human beings.
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I am working on three things: on being a prayerful person on staying close to the handicapped and on my writing. These are my constant concerns.
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