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Joy Does Not Simply Happen To Us. We Have To Choose Joy And Keep Choosing It Every Day.
-Henri Nouwen
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Joy Does Not Simply

Henri Nouwen
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Joy Does Not Simply Happen To Us. We Have To Choose Joy And Keep Choosing It Every Day.

Understanding the Quote: "joy does not simply happen to us. we have to choose joy..."

This quote by Henri Nouwen reflects deeply on the theme of happiness. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Happiness, Opportunity, True Joy, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Henri Nouwen interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Henri Nouwen

Henri Nouwen is celebrated for insightful thoughts on happiness and opportunity. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Happiness
Opportunity
True Joy
More From Henri Nouwen
Real Grief Is Not Healed By Time... If Time Does Anything, It Deepens Our Grief. The Longer We Live, The More Fully We Become Aware Of Who She Was For Us, And The More Intimately We Experience What Her Love Meant For Us. Real, Deep Love Is, As You Know, Very Unobtrusive, Seemingly Easy And Obvious, And So Present That We Take It For Granted. Therefore, It Is Only In Retrospect - Or Better, In Memory - That We Fully Realize Its Power And Depth. Yes, Indeed, Love Often Makes Itself Visible In Pain.
Pain
Memories
Real
Now I Wonder Whether I Have Sufficiently Realized That During All This Time God Has Been Trying To Find Me, To Know Me, And To Love Me. 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 Love God?' But 'how Am I To Let Myself Be Loved By God?'
Trying
God Love
Wonder
Television Is Obviously An Enormous Intruder. Quite Often People Say They Have No Time, But In Fact They Waste A Lot Of Time On Things That Are Not Healthy.
People
Healthy
Television
Somehow, Somewhere, I Know That God Loves Me, Even Though I Do Not Feel That Love As I Can Feel A Human Embrace, Even Though I Do Not Hear A Voice As I Hear Human Words...god Is Greater Than My Senses, Greater Than My Thoughts, Greater Than My Heart. I Do Believe That He Touches Me In Places That Are Unknown Even To Myself.
Believe
Heart
Voice
...real Care Means The Willingness To Help Each Other In Making Our Brokenness Into The Gateway To Joy.
Real
Mean
Joy
My Whole Life I Have Been Complaining That My Work Was Constantly Interrupted, Until I Discovered That My Interruptions Were My Work.
Complaining
Whole Life
Interruptions
Peacemaking Is A Full-time Vocation That Includes Each Member Of God's People.
People
Members
Vocation
The Real "work" Of Prayer Is To Become Silent And Listen To The Voice That Says Good Things About Me. To Gently Push Aside And Silence The Many Voices That Question My Goodness And To Trust That I Will Hear The Voice Of Blessing-- That Demands Real Effort.
Prayer
Real
Blessing
Compassion Requires Us To Be Weak With The Weak, Vulnerable With The Vulnerable, And Powerless With The Powerless. Compassion Means Full Immersion In The Condition Of Being Human.
Mean
Compassion
Vulnerable
God Doesn't Give Us Just Enough. God Gives Us More Than Enough: More Bread And Fish Than We Can Eat, More Love Than We Dared To Ask For.
Giving
Bread
Enough
Joy And Laughter Are The Gifts Of Living In The Presence Of God And Trusting That Tomorrow Is Not Worth Worrying About.
Laughter
Worry
Joy
Your Life Is Not Going To Be Easy, And It Should Not Be Easy. It Ought To Be Hard. It Ought To Be Radical; It Ought To Be Restless; It Ought To Lead You To Places You'd Rather Not Go.
Encouragement
Life Is
Easy
The Great Call For The Church Is To Not Just Be Concerned About Right Or Wrong Behavior, Which Is Moral Life, But About Communion With God, Which Is Mystical Life.
Church
Moral
Behavior
Real Greatness Is Often Hidden, Humble, Simple, And Unobtrusive. It Is Not Easy To Trust Ourselves And Our Actions Without Public Affirmation. We Must Have Strong Self-confidence Combined With Deep Humility.
Strong
Real
Humility
God, Help Me To See Others Not As Enemies Or As Ungodly But Rather As Thirsty People. And Give Me The Courage And Compassion To Offer Your Living Water, Which Alone Quenches Deep Thirst.
Compassion
Giving
Water
The Art Of Living Is To Enjoy What We Can See And Not Complain About What Remains In The Dark. When We Are Able To Take The Next Step With Trust That We Will Have Enough Light For The Step That Follows, We Can Walk Through Life With Joy And Be Surprised At How Far We Go.
Art
Dark
Light
Prayer Is The Beginning And The End, The Source And The Fruit, The Core And The Content, The Basis And The Goal Of All Peacemaking.
Prayer
Goal
Fruit
We Can Be Unhappy About Many Things, But Jy Can Still Be There... It Is Important To Become Aware That At Every Moment Of Our Life We Have An Opportunity To Choose Joy... It Is In The Choice That Our True Freedom Lies, And That Freedom Is, In The Final Analysis, The Freedom To Love.
Uplifting
Lying
Opportunity
Jesus Was A Revolutionary, Who Did Not Become An Extremist, Since He Did Not Offer An Ideology, But Himself. He Was Also A Mystic, Who Did Not Use His Intimate Relationship With God To Avoid The Social Evils Of His Time, But Shocked His Milieu To The Point Of Being Executed As A Rebel. In This Sense He Also Remains For Nuclear Man The Way To Liberation And Freedom.
Jesus
Men
Intimate Relationships
I Still Believe That The University Is A Place Where People Can Develop Their Minds And Learn Skills, But Also They Can Develop Their Personalities And Their Spiritual Life.
Spiritual
Believe
Skills
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.
Men
Needs
Entering
...we All Want To Hear Stories, From The Moment We Are Born To The Moment We Die. Stories Connect Our Little Lives With The World Around Us And Help Us Discover Who We Are.
Stories
World
Want
Living In A Community With Very Wounded People, I Came To See That I Had Lived Most Of My Life As A Tightrope Artist Trying To Walk On A High, Thin Cable From One Tower To The Other, Always Waiting For The Applause When I Had Not Fallen Off And Broken My Leg.
Artist
Broken
People
There Is Nothing So Important In The Family As The Sacred Quality Of The Meal.
Important
Quality
Meals
To Live In The Present, We Must Deeply Believe That What Is Most Important Is In The Here And Now.
Believe
Important
Live In The Present
Listening Is A Form Of Spiritual Hospitality By Which You Invite Strangers To Become Friends, To Get To Know Their Inner Selves More Fully, And Even To Dare To Be Silent With You.
Spiritual
Self
Listening
My Writing Has Developed Drastically . The Return Of The Prodigal Son Is The Most Important Thing I've Done, And My Most Mature Book.
Book
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Joy Is What Makes Life Worth Living, But For Many Joy Seems Hard To Find. They Complain That Their Lives Are Sorrowful And Depressing. What Then Brings The Joy We So Much Desire? Are Some People Just Lucky, While Others Have Run Out Of Luck? Strange As It May Sound, We Can Choose Joy. Two People Can Be Part Of The Same Event, But One May Choose To Live It Quite Differently Than The Other. One May Choose To Trust That What Happened, Painful As It May Be, Holds A Promise. The Other May Choose Despair And Be Destroyed By It. What Makes Us Human Is Precisely This Freedom Of Choice.
Running
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Two
The World Is Evil Only When You Become Its Slave.
Evil
World
Slave
Much Violence Is Based On The Illusion That Life Is A Property To Be Defended And Not To Be Shared.
Life
Peace
Freedom
The Soul Of The Artist Cannot Remain Hidden.
Artist
Soul
In 1970 I Felt So Lonely That I Could Not Give; Now I Feel So Joyful That Giving Seems Easy. I Hope That The Day Will Come When The Memory Of My Present Joy Will Give Me The Strength To Keep Giving Even When Loneliness Gnaws At My Heart.
Happiness
Lonely
Memories
Fear Is The Great Enemy Of Intimacy. Fear Makes Us Run Away From Each Other Or Cling To Each Other But Does Not Create True Intimacy.
Running
Enemy
Doe
To Forgive Another From The Heart Is An Act Of Liberation. We Set That Person Free From The Negative Bonds That Exist Between Us. As Long As We Do Not Forgive We Pull Them With Us, Or Worse, As A Heavy Load. The Great Temptation Is To Cling In Anger To Our Enemies & Then Define Ourselves As Being Offended & Wounded By Them. Forgiveness, Therefore, Liberates Not Only The Other But Also Ourselves. It Is The Way To The Freedom Of The Children Of God.
Children
Heart
Long
Our Inclination Is To Show Our Lord Only What We Feel Comfortable With. But The More We Dare To Reveal Our Whole Trembling Self To Him, The More We Will Be Able To Sense That His Love, Which Is Perfect Love, Casts Out All Our Fears.
Self
Perfect
His Love
Emit Gratitude As Though It Was Done
Gratitude
Done
Home Is The Center Of My Being Where I Can Hear The Voice That Says: 'you Are My Beloved, On You My Favor Rests' - The Same Voice That Gave Life To The First Adam And Spoke To Jesus, The Second Adam; The Same Voice That Speaks To All The Children Of God And Sets Them Free To Live In The Midst Of A Dark World While Remaining In The Light.
Jesus
Children
Home
When We Are Crushed Like Grapes, We Cannot Think Of The Wine We Will Become.
Wine
Thinking
Grapes
One Of The Most Beautiful Ways For Spiritual Formation To Take Place Is To Let Your Insecurity Lead You Closer To The Lord. Natural Hypersensitivity Can Become An Asset; It Makes You Aware Of Your Need To Be With People And It Allows You To Be More Willing To Look At Their Needs.
Beautiful
Spiritual
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Gratitude As A Discipline Involves A Conscious Choice. I Can Choose To Be Grateful Even When My Emotions And Feelings Are Still Steeped In Hurt And Resentment. It Is Amazing How Many Occasions Present Themselves In Which I Can Choose Gratitude Instead Of A Complaint.
Gratitude
Hurt
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Let's Start With Jesus' Answer: "look For The Kingdom First And All Else Will Come Together." Life Is Fragmenting, Fragmented. I Have A Thousands Things To Do, Others Do Too. We Can Live Our Life As If The Main Question Is, "how Can Keep It Together? How Do I Juggle All The Balls? But The Real Question Is, "how Can I Stay Home - Interiorly Home - While I Do These Many Things?
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Real
Home
You Are The Heir To The Kingdom. Prosperity Is Your Birth Right And You Hold The Key To More Abundance In Every Area Of Your Life Then You Can Possibly Imagine.
Keys
Kingdoms
Heirs
The Question Is Not: How Many People Take You Seriously? How Much Are You Going To Accomplish? Can You Show Some Results? But: Are You In Love With Jesus?
Christian
Jesus
Prayer
While Optimism Makes Us Live As If Someday Soon Things Will Soon Go Better For Us, Hope Frees Us From The Need To Predict The Future And Allows Us To Live In The Present, With The Deep Trust That God Will Never Leave Us Alone But Will Fulfill The Deepest Desires Of Our Heart... Joy In This Perspective Is The Fruit Of Hope.
Heart
Optimism
Perspective
The People Who Most Affected Me Were The Ones Who Got Right In There With Me, Who Cried With Me, But Who Also Had A Certain Authority, Who Dared To Say What Needed Saying.
People
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Certain
The Spiritual Life Is Not A Life Before, After, Or Beyond Our Everyday Existence. No, The Spiritual Life Can Only Be Real When It Is Lived In The Midst Of The Pains And Joys Of The Here And Now.
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Pain
Real
Distance Never Seperates Two Hearts That Really Care, For Our Memories Span The Miles And In Seconds We Are There. But Whenever I Start Feeling Sad Cuz I Miss You I Remind Myself How Lucky I Am To Have Someone So Special To Miss.
Relationship
I Miss You
Missing You
A Life Without A Lonely Place, That Is, A Life Without A Quiet Center, Easily Becomes Destructive. When We Cling To The Results Of Our Actions As Our Only Way Of Self-identifiction, Then We Become Possessive And Defensive And Tend To Look At Our Fellow Human Beings More As Enemies To Be Kept At A Distance Than As Friends With Whom We Share The Gifts Of Life.
Life
Lonely
Distance
When We Have Sold Our Identity To The Judges Of This World, We Are Bound To Become Restless, Because Of A Growing Need For Affirmation And Praise.
Inspirational
Religious
Judging
Be Surprised By Joy, Be Surprised By The Little Flower That Shows Its Beauty In The Midst Of A Barren Desert, And Be Surprised By The Immense Healing Power That Keeps Bursting Forth Like Springs Of Fresh Water From The Depth Of Our Pain.
Pain
Spring
Flower
Your Body Needs To Be Held And To Hold, To Be Touched And To Touch. None Of These Needs Is To Be Despised, Denied, Or Repressed. But You Have To Keep Searching For Your Body's Deeper Need, The Need For Genuine Love. Every Time You Are Able To Go Beyond The Body's Superficial Desires For Love, You Are Bringing Your Body Home And Moving Toward Integration And Unity.
Love
Moving
Home
Hospitality Is Not To Change People, But To Offer Them Space Where Change Can Take Place.
Space
People
Hospitality
Friendship And Love Are Impossible Without A Mutual Vulnerability.
Real
Love And Friendship
And Love
The Farther The Outward Journey Takes You, The Deeper The Inward Journey Must Be.
Journey
Inward
Deeper
I Want My Work To Create Space Where People Can Meet God, Rather Than Give Them Something They Can "apply" To Their Daily Life.
Space
People
Giving
In 1984, Jean Vanier Invited Me Me To Visit L'arche Community In Trosly, France. He Didn't Say "we Need A Priest" Or "we Could Use You." He Said, "maybe Our Community Can Offer You A Home." I Visited Several Times, Then Resigned From Harvard And Went To Live With The Community For A Year. I Loved It! I Didn't Have Much To Do. I Wasn't Pastor Or Anything. I Was Just A Friend Of The Community.
Home
Years
Community
It Is Not Easy To Enter Into The Silence And Reach Beyond The Many Boisterous And Demanding Voices Of Our World And To Discover There The Small Intimate Voice Saying: 'you Are My Belived Child, On You My Favor Rests.'
Children
Our World
Voice
Feelings Of Guilt Dominate Our Work As Peacemakers We Cannot Last Long. But When We Have Opened Each Other's Eyes To The Great Human Gifts Among All People We Can Indeed Make Peacemaking A Way Of Being.
Gratitude
Eye
Mutual Support
Reading With Children Is An Enormous Gift To Them. It's A Great Honor To Invite Children To Read With Adults.
Children
Reading
Honor
Our Tendency Is To Run From The Painful Realities Or Try To Change Them As Soon As Possible. But Cure Without Care Makes Us Into Rulers, Controllers, Manipulators.
Running
Reality
Trying
Live, Work, And Travel With Handicapped People, So I Can Stay Close To Them. But Since I Am Often Busy With Many Things, It's A Constant Struggle To Keep The Handicapped Members Of Our Community In The Center Of My Life.
Struggle
People
Community
The Discipline Of Gratitude Is The Explicit Effort To Acknowledge That All I Am And Have Is Given To Me As A Gift Of Love, A Gift To Be Celebrated With Joy.
Thanksgiving
Gratitude
Discipline
God's Kingdom Is A Place Of Abundance Where Every Generous Act Overflows Its Original Bounds And Becomes Part Of The Unbounded Grace Of God At Work In The World.
Grace
World
Kingdoms
We Are All Healers Who Can Reach Out And Offer Health, And We Are All Patients In Constant Need Of Help.
Health
Needs
Patient
Community Life Is Not Easy For Somebody Like Me, Who Is Used To Living By Himself And Doing What He Wants. It's A Demanding Life, And You Quickly Get In Touch With Your Own Handicaps And Weaknesses.
Community
Want
Weakness
As A General Remark, I Would Say We Must Move From The Moral To The Mystical Life.
Moving
Moral
Mystical
I Always Try To Turn My Personal Struggles Into Something Helpful For Others.
Struggle
Trying
Helpful
God Is Your Safety And Your Home. You Are Well Embraced." Start Living The Multi-formity Of Life From This Place. If You Can Hold On To That, It All Becomes One.
Home
Safety
Wells
Although We Tend To Think About Saints As Holy And Pious, And Picture Them With Halos Above Their Heads And Ecstatic Gazes, True Saints Are Much More Accessible. They Are Men And Women Like Us, Who Live Ordinary Lives And Struggle With Ordinary Problems. What Makes Them Saints Is Their Clear And Unwavering Focus On God And God's People.
Struggle
Men
Thinking
'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.
Simple
Attention
Should
Nobody Escapes Being Wounded. We Are All Wounded People, Whether Physically, Emotionally, Mentally, Or Spiritually. The Main Question Is Not, 'how Can We Hide Our Wounds?' So We Don't Have To Be Embarrassed, But 'how Can We Put Our Woundedness In The Service Of Others?' When Our Wounds Cease To Be A Source Of Shame, And Become A Source Of Healing, We Have Become Wounded Healers.
Healing
People
Shame
I've Had A Tremendous Problem With Depression In My Life. I'd Rather Not Talk About It, Because It's Over. But Depression Is Real.
Real
Problem
There Is A Wonderful Story In The Gospel Of Luke (6:12-26). Jesus Went Up To The Mountain To Pray At Night; In The Morning He Came Down From The Mountain And Called His Twelve Apostles Around Him. In The Afternoon He Went Out On The Plain With Them To Preach The Good News And Heal The Sick. He Had Communion With God First, Then He Had Community, And Then He Went Out To Do The Work Of God. That's The Order Of Things.
Jesus
Morning
Night
Asking People For Money Is Giving Them The Opportunity To Put Their Resources At The Disposal Of The Kingdom.
Opportunity
People
Giving
Joy Is Based On The Spiritual Knowledge That, While The World In Which We Live Is Shrouded In Darkness, God Has Overcome The World.
Spiritual
Joy
Darkness
To Learn Patience Is Not To Rebel Against Every Hardship.
Rebel
Hardship
When We Break Bread And Give It To Each Other, Fear Vanishes And God Becomes Very Close.
Giving
Bread
Break
Prayer Is Not One Of The Many Things The Community Does. Rather, It Is Its Very Beingbut When Prayer Is No Longer Its Primary Concern, And When Its Many Activities Are No Longer Seen And Experienced As Part Of Prayer Itself, The Community Quickly Degenerates Into A Club With A Common Cause But No Common Vocation.
Prayer
Community
Doe
Every Time You Reject Yourself, You Idealize Others
Rejects
Jesus Said Communion First, Community Comes Out Of That, And Out Of Community, Ministry.
Jesus
Community
Ministry
One Of The Experiences Of Prayer Is That It Seems That Nothing Happens. But When You Start With It And Look Back Over A Long Period Of Prayer, You Suddenly Realize That Something Has Happened. What Is Most Close, Most Intimate, Most Present, Often Cannot Be Experienced Directly But Only With A Certain Distance. When I Think That I Am Only Distracted, Just Wasting My Time, Something Is Happening Too Immediate For Knowing, Understanding, And Experiencing. Only In Retrospect Do I Realize That Something Very Important Has Taken Place.
Prayer
Distance
Taken
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.
Taken
Essentials
Might
Those Who Are Marginal In The World Are Central In The Church, And That Is How It Is Supposed To Be! Thus We Are Called As Members Of The Church To Keep Going To The Margins Of Our Society. The Homeless, The Starving, Parentless Children, People With Aids, Our Emotionally Disturbed Brothers And Sisters - They Require Our First Attention.
Brother
Children
People
Good Families Always Ritualize The Table. You Can Say, "this Is A Christmas Meal; This Is A Birthday Meal."
Meals
Tables
Good Family
The Evangelical Movement Has Become Just A Bit Victimized By A Success-oriented Culture, Wanting The Church - Like The Corporation - To Be Successful.
Successful
Church
Corporations
Every Time I Take A Step In The Direction Of Generosity, I Know I Am Moving From Fear To Love.
Moving
Generosity
Steps
As Peacemakers, We Must Resist All The Powers Of War And Destruction And Proclaim That Peace Is The Divine Gift Offered To All Who Affirm Life. Resistance Means Saying 'no' To All The Forces Of Death, Wherever They May Be.
War
Mean
Resistance
Prayer Is First Of All Listening To God. It's Openness. God Is Always Speaking; He's Always Doing Something. Prayer Is To Enter Into That Activity... Convert Your Thoughts Into Prayer. As We Are Involved In Unceasing Thinking, So We Are Called To Unceasing Prayer. The Difference Is Not That Prayer Is Thinking About Other Things, But That Prayer Is Thinking In Dialogue,... A Conversation With God.
Prayer
Thinking
Differences
If You Are Not Able To Be Silent, You Will Not Be Able To Speak Well.
Able
Speak
Silent
O Lord, Make This Lenten Season Different From The Other Ones. Let Me Find You Again. Amen.
Different
Lord
Amen
Beneath Our Frantic Activities, There's A Deep Desire To Show The World We Are Worthwhile.
Desire
World
Worthwhile
How Do You Pray? Take The Gospel Of Each Day And Spend Ten Minutes With It. Read It, And Read It Again. Walk Into The World With The Gospel In Your Heart.
Heart
Each Day
World
There Are As Many Ways To Pray As There Are Moments In Life.
Way
Praying
Moments
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.
Heart
Joy
Humanity
However, Community Is First Of All A Quality Of The Heart. It Grows From The Spiritual Knowledge That We Are Alive Not For Ourselves But For One Another. Community Is The Fruit Of Our Capacity To Make The Interests Of Others More Important Than Our Own. The Question, Therefore, Is Not 'how Can We Make Community?' But, 'how Can We Develop And Nurture Giving Hearts?'
Spiritual
Heart
Giving
The Real Question Is: How Can I Live So That My Death Will Be Fruitful For Others?
Real
Real Questions
Compassion Asks Us To Go Where It Hurts, To Enter Into The Places Of Pain, To Share In Brokenness, Fear, Confusion, And Anguish. Compassion Challenges Us To Cry Out With Those In Misery, To Mourn With Those Who Are Lonely, To Weep With Those In Tears. Compassion Requires Us To Be Weak With The Weak, Vulnerable With The Vulnerable, And Powerless With The Powerless. Compassion Means Full Immersion In The Condition Of Being Human.
Lonely
Hurt
Pain
I Often Wonder If My Knowledge About God Has Not Become My Greatest Stumbling Block To My Knowledge Of God.
Block
Knowledge Of God
Wonder
It Is Freeing To Become Aware That We Do Not Have To Be Victims Of Our Past And Can Learn New Ways Of Responding. Forgiveness Is Love Practiced Among People Who Love Poorly. It Sets Us Free Without Wanting Anything In Return.
Past
People
Way
You Are A Christian Only So Long As You Constantly Pose Critical Questions To The Society You Live In, So Long As You Stay Unsatisfied With The Status Quo, And Keep Saying That A New World Is Yet To Come.
Christian
Long
World
Prayer Is First Of All Listening To God. It's Openness. God Is Always Speaking; He's Always Doing Something.
Prayer
Listening
Firsts
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.
Eye
Dwelling Place
People
Forgiveness Changes The Way We Remember. It Converts The Curse Into A Blessing. Forgiveness Indeed Heals Memories . . .
Memories
Blessing
Way
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.
Beautiful
Kissing
People
When You Recognize The Festive And The Still Moments As Moments Of Prayer, Then You Gradually Realize That To Pray Is To Live.
Prayer
Praying
Realizing
His (christ's) Appearance In Our Midst Has Made It Undeniably Clear That Changing The Human Heart And Changing Human Society Are Not Separate Tasks, But Are As Interconnected As The Two Beams Of The Cross.
Heart
Two
Tasks
In Solitude We Become Aware That Our Worth Is Not The Same As Our Usefulness.
Solitude
Usefulness
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.
Teacher
People
Giving
I Have An Increasing Sense That The Most Important Crisis Of Our Time Is Spiritual And That We Need Places Where People Can Grow Stronger In The Spirit And Be Able To Integrate The Emotional Struggles In Their Spiritual Journeys.
Spiritual
Struggle
Journey
Silence Is A Very Concrete, Practical, And Useful Discipline In All Our Ministerial Tasks. It Can Be Seen As A Portable Cell Taken With Us From The Solitary Place Into The Midst Of Our Ministry. Silence Is Solitude Practiced In Action.
Taken
Cells
Discipline
When We Give Generously, With An Abundance Mentality, What We Give Away Will Multiply.
Giving
Abundance Mentality
Abundance
Keep A Space Where God Can Let Something Totally New Take Place.
Space
It's An Incredible Mystery Of God's Love That The More You Know How Deeply You Are Loved, The More You Will See How Deeply Your Sisters And Your Brothers In The Human Family Are Loved.
Brother
Mystery
Incredibles
The Real Enemies Of Our Life Are The 'oughts' And The 'ifs.' They Pull Us Backward Into The Unalterable Past And Forward Into The Unpredictable Future. But Real Life Takes Place In The Here And Now.
Real
Past
Enemy
The Great Illusion Of Leadership Is To Think That Man Can Be Led Out Of The Desert By Someone Who Has Never Been There.
Men
Thinking
Desert
[the Return Of The Prodigal Book] Came Out Of My Emotional And Spiritual Journey During The Four Months I Was Gone From Daybreak Because Of Depression.
Spiritual
Book
Journey
Praying Is No Easy Matter. It Demands A Relationship In Which You Allow Someone Other Than Yourself To Enter Into The Very Center Of Your Person, To See There What You Would Rather Leave In Darkness, And To Touch There What You Would Rather Leave Untouched.
Darkness
Demand
Matter
In Solitude We Become Aware That We Were Together Before We Came Together And That Life Is Not A Creation Of Our Will But Rather An Obedient Response To The Reality Of Our Being United.
Reality
Solitude
Together
Compassion- Which Means, Literally, "to Suffer With"- Is The Way To The Truth That We Are Most Ourselves, Not When We Differ From Others, But When We Are The Same. Indeed The Main Spiritual Question Is Not, "what Difference Do You Make?" But "what Do You Have In Common?" It Is Not "excelling" But "serving" That Makes Us Most Human. It Is Not Proving Ourselves To Be Better Than Others But Confessing To Be Just Like Others That Is The Way To Healing And Reconciliation.
Spiritual
Healing
Mean
No One Person Can Fulfill All Your Needs. But The Community Can Truly Hold You. The Community Can Let You Experience The Fact That, Beyond Your Anguish, There Are Human Hands That Hold You And Show You God's Faithful Love.
Hands
Community
Faithful
The Tragedy Of Our Lives Is That, While We Suffer From The Wounds Afflicted On Us By Those Who Love Us, We Cannot Avoid Wounding Those We Want To Love.
Suffering
Tragedy
Want
To Live A Spiritual Life We Must First Find The Courage To Enter Into The Desert Of Loneliness And To Change It By Gentle And Persistent Efforts Into A Garden Of Solitude.
Life
Spiritual
Loneliness
One Of The Tragedies Of Our Life Is That We Keep Forgetting Who We Are
Tragedy
Who We Are
Life Is
We Enter Into Solitude First Of All To Meet Our Lord And To Be With Him And Him Alone. Only In The Context Of Grace Can We Face Our Sin; Only In The Place Of Healing Do We Dare To Show Our Wounds; Only With A Singleminded Attention To Christ Can We Give Up Our Clinging Fears And Face Our Own True Nature.
Giving Up
Healing
Grace
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.
Country
Jesus
Children
Did I Offer Peace Today? Did I Bring A Smile To Someone's Face? Did I Say Words Of Healing? Did I Let Go Of My Anger And Resentment? Did I Forgive? Did I Love?' These Are The Real Questions. I Must Trust That The Little Bit Of Love That I Sow Now Will Be Many Fruits, Here In This World And The Life To Come.
Letting Go
Real
Healing
Joy Is The Experience Of Knowing That You Are Unconditionally Loved.
Knowing
Joy
Our Lives Are Unique Stones In The Mosaic Of Human Existence -- Priceless And Irreplaceable.
Unique
Mosaics
Stones
Jesus Didn't Say, 'blessed Are Those Who Care For The Poor.' He Said, 'blessed Are We Where We Are Poor, Where We Are Broken.' It Is There That God Loves Us Deeply And Pulls Us Into Deeper Communion With Himself.
Jesus
Blessed
Broken
The Truth, Even Though I Cannot Feel It Right Now, Is That I Am The Chosen Child Of God, Precious In God's Eyes, Called The Beloved From All Eternity And Held Safe In An Everlasting Embrace... We Must Dare To Opt Consciously For Our Chosenness And Not Allow Our Emotions, Feelings, Or Passions To Seduce Us Into Self-rejection.
Children
Passion
Eye
That's The Temptation Of The Devil: "turn Stones Into Bread! Be Relevant!"
Temptation
Devil
Stones
If You Start With Community And Want To Be Faithful To Community, You Have To Realize That What Binds You Together Is Not Mutual Compatibility Or Common Tasks, But God. In Order To Stay In Touch With That Call To Community, We Always Have To Return To Solitude.
Order
Community
Solitude
Our Greatest Fulfillment Lies In Giving Ourselves To Others.
Lying
Compassion
Giving
The Gospel Word Of The Day Can Become Like A Painting On The Walls. Of Your Inner Room, The Inner Room That Is Your Heart.
Wall
Heart
Rooms
Somewhere We Know That Without Silence, Words Lose Their Meaning.
Silence
Distance Friendship
Inspirational Long Distance Relationship
In A Strange Way The Spiritual Life Isn't "useful" Or "successful." But It Is Meant To Be Fruitful. And Fruitfulness Comes Out Of Brokenness.
Spiritual
Successful
Way
For As Long As You Can Remember, You Have Been A Pleaser, Depending On Others To Give You An Identity. You Need Not Look At That Only In A Negative Way. You Wanted To Give Your Heart To Others, And You Did So Quickly And Easily. But Now You Are Being Asked To Let Go Of All These Self-made Props And Trust That God Is Enough For You. You Must Stop Being A Pleaser And Reclaim Your Identity As A Free Self.
Letting Go
Heart
Remember You
Each Individual Human Being Can Claim The Spirit Of Jesus As The Guiding Spirit Of His Or Her Life. In That Spirit We Can Speak And Act Freely And Confidently With The Knowledge That The Same Spirit That Inspired Jesus Is Inspiring Us.
Spiritual
Jesus
Inspired
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 Our Words.
Spiritual
Book
Reading
As Long As We Relate To The Trees, The Rivers, The Mountains, The Fields And The Oceans As Properties Which We Can Manipulate According To Our Real Or Fabricated Needs, Nature Remains Opaque, And Does Not Reveal To Us Its True Being.
Nature
Real
Ocean
One Of The Remarkable Qualities Of The Story Is That It Creates Space. We Can Dwell In A Story, Walk Around, Find Our Own Place. The Story Confronts But Does Not Oppress; The Story Inspires But Does Not Manipulate. The Story Invites Us To An Encounter, A Dialogue, A Mutual Sharing. As Long As We Have Stories To Tell To Each Other There Is Hope. As Long As We Can Remind Each Other Of The Lives Of Men And Women In Whom The Love Of God Becomes Manifest, There Is Reason To Move Forward To New Land In Which New Stories Are Hidden.
Moving
Men
Land
It Is God’s Passionate Pursuit Of Us That Calls Us To Prayer.
Prayer
Passionate
Pursuit
I Really Believe That What We Finally Want Is To Know God, As God Has Come To Be Known Through Jesus. Knowledge Is Knowledge Of The Heart - The Spirit - I Would Say. It Is The Spirit In Us Who Reveals God.
Jesus
Believe
Heart
Life Is Just A Little Opportunity For You During A Few Years To Say, "i Love You, Too."
Love You
Opportunity
Years
You Don't Think Your Way Into A New Kind Of Living. You Live Your Way Into A New Kind Of Thinking.
Inspirational
Thinking
Way
Jesus Says, "keep Your Heart On The Kingdom First. Keep Your Heart On God's Love. Keep Focused On The Fact That You Are God's Beloved Daughter Or Son. That's The Truth Of Who You Are.
Daughter
Jesus
Heart
Solitude Is The Furnace Of Transformation. Without Solitude We Remain Victims Of Our Society And Continue To Be Entangled In The Illusions Of The False Self.
Self
Solitude
Our Society
Too Many Of Us Are Lonely Ministers Practicing A Lonely Ministry.
Lonely
Ministry
Ministers
Through Discipline, Discipline Is The Other Side Of Discipleship. If You Want To Follow Jesus, You Have To Have Discipline.
Jesus
Discipline
Want
Prayer Is The Center Of The Christian Life. It Is The Only Necessary Thing. It Is Living With God, Here And Now.
Christian
Prayer
Here And Now
As We Are Involved In Unceasing Thinking, So We Are Called To Unceasing Prayer.
Prayer
Thinking
Involved
So I Am Praying While Not Knowing How To Pray. I Am Resting While Feeling Restless, At Peace While Tempted, Safe While Still Anxious, Surrounded By A Cloud Of Light While Still In Darkness, In Love While Still Doubting.
Clouds
Light
Knowing
Our Society Is So Fragmented, Our Family Lives So Sundered By Physical And Emotional Distance, Our Friendships So Sporadic, Our Intimacies So 'in-between' Things And Often So Utilitarian, That There Are Few Places Where We Can Feel Truly Safe.
Distance
Emotional
Safe
What Once Seemed Such A Curse Has Become A Blessing. All The Agony That Threatened To Destroy My Life Now Seems Like The Fertile Ground For Greater Trust, Stronger Hope, And Deeper Love.
Blessing
Agony
Stronger
Community Is Where Humility And Glory Touch.
Humility
Community
Glory
Forgiveness Changes The Way We Remember.
Way
Remember
The Only Feelings That Do Not Heal Are The Ones You Hide.
Feelings
Heal
If You Meet God In Solitude, You Discover The God You Meet Is The God Who Embraces All People.
People
Solitude
Embrace
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.
Beautiful
Children
Mean
In The Face Of The Oppressed I Recognize My Own Face, And In The Hands Of The Oppressor I Recognize My Own Hands. Their Flesh Is My Flesh, Their Blood Is My Blood, Their Pain Is My Pain, Their Smile Is My Smile.
Pain
Blood
Hands
Dear God, I Am So Afraid To Open My Clenched Fists! Who Will I Be When I Have Nothing Left To Hold On To? Who Will I Be When I Stand Before You With Empty Hands? Please Help Me To Gradually Open My Hands And To Discover That I Am Not What I Own, But What You Want To Give Me.
Hands
Giving
Want
The Art Of Living Is To Enjoy What We Can See And Not Complain About What Remains In The Dark.
Art
Dark
Complaining
Is My Growing Old Making Me Any Closer To Christ? Am I Only Getting Older Or Am I Getting More Godly?
Godly
Getting Older
Growing
That Is Our Vocation: To Convert The Enemy Into A Guest And To Create The Free And Fearless Space Where Brotherhood And Sisterhood Can Be Formed And Fully Experienced.
Sisterhood
Space
Fearless
I Kept Running Around It In Large Or Small Circles, Always Looking For Someone Or Something Able To Convince Me Of My Belovedness. Self-rejection Is The Greatest Enemy Of The Spiritual Life Because It Contradicts The Sacred Voice That Calls Us The "beloved". Being The Beloved Expresses The Core Truth Of Our Existence.
Running
Spiritual
Self
You Have To Listen To The One Who Calls You Beloved. That Has To Be Affirmed Over And Over Again. That Is Prayer - Listening To The Voice Of The One Who Calls You "the Beloved."
Prayer
Voice
Listening
Every Time There Are Losses, There Are Choices To Be Made. You Choose To Live Your Losses As Passages To Anger, Blame, Hatred, Depression And Resentment, Or You Choose To Let These Losses Be Passages To Something New, Something Wider, And Deeper.
Love
Depression
Anger
In Their Poverty, The Mentally Handicapped Reveal God To Us And Hold Us Close To The Gospel.
Poverty
Handicapped
Mentally Handicapped
It Is In Solitude That We Discover That Being Is More Important Than Having And That We Are Worth More Than The Results Of Our Efforts. In Solitude We Discover That Our Life Is Not A Possession To Be Defended But A Gift To Be Shared.
Effort
Solitude
Important
Spiritual Maturity Is Not Knowing What To Do With Your Whole Life, But Just Knowing What To Do Next.
Spiritual
Maturity
Knowing
I Have Found It Very Important...to Let Go Of My Wishes And Start Hoping.
Letting Go
Wish
Important
Precisely Where I Feel My Poverty Is Where I Discover God's Blessing.
Blessing
Poverty
Feels
The Great #‎ Conversion Called For By Jesus Is To Move From Belonging To The World To Belonging To God.
Jesus
Moving
World
Of One Thing I Am Sure. Complaining Is Self-perpetuating And Counterproductive. Whenever I Express My Complaints In The Hope Of Evoking Pity And Receiving The Satisfaction I So Much Desire, The Result Is Always The Opposite Of What I Tried To Get. A Complainer Is Hard To Live With, And Very Few People Know How To Respond To The Complaints Made By A Self-rejecting Person. The Tragedy Is That, Often, The Complaint, Once Expressed, Leads To That Which Is Most Feared: Further Rejection.
Self
Opposites
People
When We Keep Claiming The Light, We Will Find Ourselves Becoming More And More Radiant.
Light
Becoming
Becoming More
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.
Christian
Self
Leader
What Is Important Is How Well We Love. God Will Make Our Love Fruitful, Whether We See That Fruitfulness Or Not.
Important
Our Love
God Love
I Am Deeply Convince That The Necessity Of Prayer, And To Pray Unceasingly, Is Not As Much Based On Our Desire For God As On God's Desire For Us. It Is God's Passionate Pursuit Of Us That Calls Us To Prayer.
Prayer
Desire
Passionate
I Have Found It Very Important In My Own Life To Try To Let Go Of My Wishes And Instead To Live In Hope. I Am Finding That When I Choose To Let Go Of My Sometimes Petty And Superficial Wishes And Trust That My Life Is Precious And Meaningful In The Eyes Of God Something Really New, Something Beyond My Own Expectations Begins To Happen For Me. (finding My Way Home)
Letting Go
Meaningful
Eye
Christian Life Is Not A Life Divided Between Times For Action And Times For Contemplation. No. Real Social Action Is A Way Of Contemplation, And Real Contemplation Is The Core Of Social Action.
Christian
Real
Godly
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.
Moving
Suffering
Use
If You Want To Know Anything About Community, You Have To Realize That The Contemplative Side Is Essential. Community Without Retreating And Quiet Time Never Survives.
Community
Essentials
Want
True Hospitality Is Welcoming The Stranger On Her Own Terms. This Kind Of Hospitality Can Only Be Offered By Those Who've Found The Center Of Their Lives In Their Own Hearts.
Home
Heart
Welcome
Joy Does Not Simply Happen To Us. We Have To Choose Joy And Keep Choosing It Every Day.
Happiness
Opportunity
True Joy
Becoming The Beloved Is Pulling The Truth Revealed To Me From Above Down Into The Ordinariness Of What I Am, In Fact, Thinking Of, Talking About And Doing From Hour To Hour.
Thinking
Talking
Truth Revealed
We Are Called To Be Fruitful - Not Successful, Not Productive, Not Accomplished. Success Comes From Strength, Stress, And Human Effort. Fruitfulness Comes From Vulnerability And The Admission Of Our Own Weakness.
Stress
Successful
Effort
Teaching, Therefore, Asks First Of All The Creation Of A Space Where Students And Teachers Can Enter Into A Fearless Communication With Each Other And Allow Their Respective Life Experiences To Be Their Primary And Most Valuable Source Of Growth And Maturation. It Asks For A Mutual Trust In Which Those Who Teach And Those Who Want To Learn Can Become Present To Each Other, Not As Opponents, But As Those Who Share In The Same Struggle And Search For The Same Truth.
Teacher
Communication
Teaching
Do Not Despair, Thinking That You Cannot Change Yourself After So Many Years. Simply Enter Into The Presence Of Jesus As You Are And Ask Him To Give You A Fearless Heart Where He Can Be With You. You Cannot Make Yourself Different. Jesus Came To Give You A New Heart, A New Spirit, A New Mind, And A New Body. Let Him Transform You By His Love And So Enable You To Receive His Affection In Your Whole Being.
Jesus
Heart
Thinking
Waiting Is A Dry Desert Between Where We Are And Where We Want To Be. (finding My Way Home)
Home
Waiting
Want
Lifting Our Cup Means Sharing Our Life So We Can Celebrate It. When We Truly Believe We Are Called To Lay Down Our Lives For Our Friends, We Must Dare To Take The Risk To Let Others Know What We Are Living.
Believe
Mean
Risk
Let Us Not Underestimate How Hard It Is To Be Compassionate. Compassion Is Hard Because It Requires The Inner Disposition To Go With Others To Place Where They Are Weak, Vulnerable, Lonely, And Broken. But This Is Not Our Spontaneous Response To Suffering. What We Desire Most Is To Do Away With Suffering By Fleeing From It Or Finding A Quick Cure For It.
Lonely
Compassion
Broken
I Am Very Grateful That I Am In Touch With So Many Different Church Groups. I Am Always Very Moved By The Fact That So Many People - Practically Over The Spectrum Of The Christian World - Are Responding To My Writing.
Christian
Grateful
Writing
Community Means That People Come Together Around The Table, Not Just To Feed Their Bodies, But To Feed Their Minds And Their Relationships.
Mean
People
Community
I'm Learning That The Blessing Is Located In Our Poor People, In People Who Are Weak; They Are The Ones We Should Stay Close To, Not Because They Need Us But Because We Need To Receive From Them The Blessing.
Blessing
People
Needs
Without Pentecost The Christ-event - The Life, Death, And Resurrection Of Jesus - Remains Imprisoned In History As Something To Remember, Think About And Reflect On. The Spirit Of Jesus Comes To Dwell Within Us, So That We Can Become Living Christs Here And Now.
Spiritual
Jesus
Thinking
In God's Eyes The Most Significant Is Often The Most Hidden.
Eye
Significant
Joy Does Not Simply Happen To Us. We Have To Choose Joy And Keep Choosing It Every Day. It Is A Choice Based On The Knowledge That We Belong To God And Have Found In God Our Refuge And Our Safety And That Nothing, Not Even Death, Can Take God Away From Us.
Love
War
Emotional
Your Heart Is Greater Than Your Wounds.
Heart
Greater
Wounds
To Give Someone A Blessing Is The Most Significant Affirmation We Can Offer.
Blessing
Giving
Affirmation
Indeed, When God's Glory Dwells In Me, There Is Nothing Too Far Away, Nothing Too Painful, Nothing Too Strange Or Too Familiar That It Cannot Contain And Renew By Its Touch. Every Time I Recognize The Glory Of God In Me And Give It Space To Manifest Itself To Me, All That Is Human Can Be Brought There And Nothing Will Be The Same Again.
Space
Giving
Strange
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