Spiritual Quote of the Day (Henri Nouwen, on Why Jesus Calls for ‘No Ideologies To Be Imposed’)

“For Jesus, there are no countries to be conquered, no ideologies to be imposed, no people to be dominated. There are only children, women and men to be loved." — Dutch-born Catholic priest, theologian, psychologist and writer Henri Nouwen (1932-1996), Peacework: Prayer, Resistance, Community (2005)

Spiritual Quote of the Day (Henri Nouwen, on Why God Sent Jesus to Us)

“Wherever we go we see divisions among people—in families, communities, cities, countries, and continents. All these divisions are tragic reflections of our separation from God. The truth that all people belong together as members of one family under God is seldom visible. Our sacred task is to reveal that truth in the reality of everyday life. Why is that our task? Because God sent Jesus to reconcile us with God and to give us the task of reconciling people with one another.”— Dutch-born Catholic priest, theologian, psychologist and writer Henri Nouwen (1932-1996), Bread For The Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith (1997)

Spiritual Quote of the Day (Henri Nouwen, on Jesus and ‘Success, Popularity, and Power’)

“Jesus came to announce to us that an identity based on success, popularity, and power is a false identity — an illusion! Loudly and clearly he says: 'You are not what the world makes you; but you are children of God.'”—Dutch-born Catholic priest, theologian, psychologist and writer Henri Nouwen (1932-1996), Here and Now: Living in the Spirit (1994)

Spiritual Quote of the Day (Henri Nouwen, on Experiencing God ‘In the Fullness of Time’)

“We often experience our time as empty. We hope that tomorrow, next week, next month or next year the real things will happen. But sometimes we experience the fullness of time. That is when it seems that time stands still, that past, present, and future become one; that everything is present where we are; and that God, we, and all that is have come together in total unity. This is the experience of God’s time. ‘When the completion of the time came [that is: in the fullness of time], God sent his Son, born of a woman’ (Galatians 4:4), and in the fullness of time God will ‘bring everything together under Christ, as head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth’ (Ephesians 1:10). It is in the fullness of time that we meet God.”— Dutch-born Catholic priest, theologian, psychologist and writer Henri Nouwen (1932-1996), Bread For The Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith (1997)

Spiritual Quote of the Day (Henri Nouwen, on God and the ‘Deep Inner Memories’ of What We Have Lost)

“I know that the fact that I am always searching for God, always struggling to discover the fullness of Love, always yearning for the complete truth, tells me that I have already been given a taste of God, of Love, and of Truth. I can only look for something that I have, to some degree, already found. How can I search for beauty and truth unless that beauty and truth are already known to me in the depth of my heart? It seems that all of us human beings have deep inner memories of the paradise that we have lost. Maybe the word innocence is better than the word paradise. We were innocent before we started feeling guilty; we were in the light before we entered into the darkness; we were at home before we started to search for a home. Deep in the recesses of our minds and hearts there lies hidden the treasure we seek. We know its preciousness, and we know that it holds the gift we most desire: a life stronger than death.”— Dutch-born Catholic priest, theologian, psychologist and writer Henri Nouwen (1932-1996), Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World (1992)

Spiritual Quote of the Day (Henri Nouwen, on the Reason for Icons)

“[I]cons … are created for the sole purpose of offering access, through the gate of the visible, to the mystery of the invisible. Icons are painted to lead us into the inner room of prayer and bring us close to the heart of God.” —Dutch Roman Catholic theologian Henri J. M. Nouwen (1932-1996), Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying with Icons (1987)

Spiritual Quote of the Day (Henri Nouwen, on How God is ‘Longing to Bring Me Home’)

“The question is not ‘How am I to find God?’ but ‘How am I to let myself be found by him?’ The question is not ‘How am I to know God?’ but ‘How am I to let myself be known by God?’ And, finally, the question is not ‘How am I to love God?’ but “How am I to let myself be loved by God?’ God is looking into the distance for me, trying to find me, and longing to bring me home.”— Dutch Catholic priest, professor, writer and theologian Henri Nouwen (1932-1996), The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming (1996)

Quote of the Day (Henri Nouwen, on Spiritual Reading)

“As we read spiritually about spiritual things, we open our hearts to God’s voice. Sometimes we must be willing to put down the book we are reading and just listen to what God is saying to us through its words.”— Dutch Catholic priest, professor, writer and theologian Henri Nouwen (1932-1996), Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith (2006)

Quote of the Day (Henri Nouwen, on ‘"The Greatest Trap in Our Life’)

"The greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity or power, but self-rejection."—Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World (1992)

Quote of the Day (Henri Nouwen, on God and Friends)

“Friends cannot replace God.  They have limitations and weaknesses like we have.  Their love is never faultless, never complete.  But in their limitations they can be signposts on our journey towards the unlimited and unconditional love of God.  Let’s enjoy the friends whom God has sent on our way.”— Henri Nouwen, Bread For The Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith (1997)

Quote of the Day (Henri Nouwen, on Self-Rejection and God's Voice)

“One of the greatest dangers in the spiritual life is self-rejection. When we say, ‘If people really knew me, they wouldn’t love me,’ we choose the road toward darkness. Often we are made to believe that self-deprecation is a virtue, called humility. But humility is in reality the opposite of self-deprecation. It is the grateful recognition that we are precious in God’s eyes and that all we are is pure gift. To grow beyond self-rejection we must have the courage to listen to the voice calling us God’s beloved sons and daughters, and the determination always to live our lives according to this truth.” —Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith (1997)

Quote of the Day (Henri Nouwen, on “God’s Unconditional Love”)

“God’s unconditional love means that God continues to love us even when we say or think evil things. God continues to wait for us as a loving parent waits for the return of a lost child. It is important for us to hold on to the truth that God never gives up loving us even when God is saddened by what we do.”—Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith (1997)

Quote of the Day (Henri Nouwen, With an “Advent Prayer”)

“We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us….We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light. To you we say, 'Come Lord Jesus!'—Roman Catholic priest and author Henri Nouwen (1932-1996), from “Advent Prayer”