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Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the Beloved.

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
Life
Calls
Beloved
Sacred
Greatest
Enemy
Spiritual
Voice
Contradicts
Self
Rejection

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Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let's not be afraid to receive each day's surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity.
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A life without a lonely place, that is, without a quiet center, becomes destructive.
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When we keep claiming the light, we will find ourselves becoming more and more radiant.
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a spiritual life without prayer is like the gospel without Christ.
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Solitude is the place where we can connect with profound bonds that are deeper than the emergency bonds of fear and anger.
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I always try to turn my personal struggles into something helpful for others.
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Peacemaking is a full-time vocation that includes each member of God's people.
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The man who can articulate the movements of his inner life need no longer be a victim of himself, but is able slowly and consistently to remove the obstacles that prevent the spirit from entering.
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Community means that people come together around the table, not just to feed their bodies, but to feed their minds and their relationships.
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When we become aware that we do not have to escape our pains, but that we can mobilize them into a common search for life, those very pains are transformed from expressions of despair into signs of hope.
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The spiritual life does not remove us from the world but leads us deeper into it
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A sense of solitude is one of the most beautiful things that parents can give a child. It doesn't mean leaving the child alone, but it does mean creating safe spaces where the child can be with other people. It does mean directing their attention to God.
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Our brokenness has no other beauty but the beauty that comes from the compassion that surrounds it.
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The mystery of ministry is that we have been chosen to make our own limited and very conditional love the gateway for the unlimited and unconditional love of God.
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...real care means the willingness to help each other in making our brokenness into the gateway to joy.
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The evangelical movement has become just a bit victimized by a success-oriented culture, wanting the church - like the corporation - to be successful.
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There is nothing so important in the family as the sacred quality of the meal.
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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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when the imitation of Christ does not mean to live a life like Christ, but to live your life as authentically as Christ lived his, then there are many ways and forms in which a man can be a Christian.
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Fundraising is a very rich and beautiful activity. It is a confident, joyful and hope-filled expression of ministry. In ministering to each other, each from the riches that he or she possesses, we work together for the full coming of God's Kingdom.
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