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."
Henri NouwenSolitude is the place where we can connect with profound bonds that are deeper than the emergency bonds of fear and anger.
Henri NouwenActive waiting means present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it.
Henri NouwenThe journey from teaching about love to allowing myself to be loved proved much longer than I realised.
Henri NouwenThose 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 NouwenOf 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.
Henri Nouwen