Quotes from Henri Nouwen

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.

The evangelical movement has become just a bit victimized by a success-oriented culture, wanting the church - like the corporation - to be successful.

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.

The mystery of one man is too immense and too profound to be explained by another man.

Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are.

Peace is first of all the art of being.

Our glory is hidden in our pain, if we allow God to bring the gift of himself in our experience of it.

Keep a space where God can let something totally new take place.

Our efforts to disconnect ourselves from our own suffering end up disconnecting our suffering from God's suffering for us. The way out of our loss and hurt is in and through.

Once you are in communion with God, you have the eyes to see and the ears to hear other people in whom God has also found a dwelling place.

Joy and laughter are the gifts of living in the presence of God and trusting that tomorrow is not worth worrying about.

I feel strongly that the God we meet in solitude is always the God who calls us to community.

Where true inner freedom is, there is God. And where God is, there we want to be.

God is a God of the present. God is always in the moment, be that moment hard or easy, joyful and painful.

We have to keep asking ourselves: 'What does it all mean? What is God trying to tell us? How are we called to live in the midst of all this?' Without such questions our lives become numb and flat.

In God's eyes the most significant is often the most hidden.

When we break bread and give it to each other, fear vanishes and God becomes very close.

God wants you to live for others and to live that presence well.

In their poverty, the mentally handicapped reveal God to us and hold us close to the gospel.

Precisely where I feel my poverty is where I discover God's blessing.

If you meet God in solitude, you discover the God you meet is the God who embraces all people.

That's prayer to let God's Word speak deep within you and tell you, "You are my beloved. You don't have to take an eye for an eye. No, no you're too rich for that."

When we learn to move through suffering, rather than avoid it, then we greet it differently. We become willing to let it teach us. We even begin to see how God can use it for some larger end.

Prayer is the most concrete way to make our home in God.