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My whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered that my interruptions were my work.

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
Constantly
Whole
Work
Life
Interruptions
Interrupted
Complaining
Discovered

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Reading with children is an enormous gift to them. It's a great honor to invite children to read with adults.
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Ministry is the least important thing. You cannot not minister if you are in communion with God and live in community.
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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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While my friend always spoke about the sun, I kept speaking about the clouds, until one day I realized that it was the sun that allowed me to see the clouds.
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The real question is: how can I live so that my death will be fruitful for others?
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...the word that seems best to summarize the desire of the human heart is 'communion.' ...wherever we look it is communion that we seek.
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Gratitude flows from the recognition that who we are and what we have are gifts to be received and shared.
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You have to dare to live through the pain and struggle. Acknowledge your anguish but do not let it pull you out of yourself. Hold on to your chosen direction, your discipline, your prayer, your work, your guides, and trust that one day love will have conquered enough of you that even the most fearful part will allow love to cast out all fear.
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A happy life is a life for others.
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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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If I were to let my life be taken over by what is urgent, I might very well never get around to what is essential.
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Intimacy is not a happy medium. It is a way of being in which the tension between distance and closeness is dissolved and a new horizon appears. Intimacy is beyond fear.
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The great teachers are always those who can live the tension. They are not criticizing everybody, they're not complaining. They give young people a vision.
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In a world so torn apart by rivalry, anger, and hatred, we have the privileged vocation to be living signs of a love that can bridge all divisions and heal all wounds.
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Those we most love cause us not only great joy but also great pain. LOVE is stronger than fear, life stronger than death, hope stronger than despair. We have to trust that the risk of loving is always worth taking.
Henri Nouwen
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Our humanity comes to its fullest bloom in giving. We become beautiful people when we give whatever we can give: a smile, a handshake, a kiss, an embrace, a word of love, a present, a part of our life...all of our life.
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This sounds very simple and maybe even trite, but very few people know that they are loved without condition or limits.
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Let’s not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God.
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If you believe you are the beloved of God, you need to spend time listening to his voice - period! You can't say, Yes God calls me the beloved, but I have to go out to do something now.
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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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