Today's reading was "if they ask you to walk a mile, walk two. Don't take an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth." You have chances every second to live this Word, but it has to be in you. It can't just be an idea; it has to sink from the mind into the heart.
Henri NouwenWaiting is a period of learning. The longer we wait, the more we hear about him for whom we are waiting.
Henri NouwenSuffering invites us to place our hurts in larger hands. In Christ we see God suffering โ for us. And calling us to share in Godโs suffering love for a hurting world. The small and even overpowering pains of our lives are intimately connected with the greater pains of Christ. Our daily sorrows are anchored in a greater sorrow and therefore a larger hope.
Henri NouwenTo be baptized means to make the passage with the people of Israel and with Jesus from slavery to freedom and from death to new life. It is a commitment to a life in and through Jesus.
Henri NouwenForgiveness means that I continually am willing to forgive the other person for not being God โ for not fulfilling all my needs. I, too, must ask forgiveness for not being able to fulfill other people's needs. โฆ The interesting thing is that when you can forgive people for not being God, then you can celebrate that they are a reflection of God.
Henri NouwenIf you feel a great loneliness and a deep longing for human contact, you have to be extremely discerning...and ask yourself whether this situation is truly God given. Because where God wants you to be, God holds you safe and gives you peace, even when there is pain. To live a disciplined life is to live in such a way that you want only to be where God is with you. The more deeply you live your spiritual life, the easier it will be to discern the difference between living with God and living without God, and the easier it will be to move away from the places where God is no longer with you.
Henri Nouwen