"As an exercise in sacred

seeing, look at the

wonderful, exuberant
flowers painted by
Vincent van Gogh. What
grief, what sadness, what
melancholy he experienced
in his difficult life.
Yet what beauty, what
joy, and what ecstasy he
was able to embrace.
Looking at his vibrant
paintings of sunflowers,
who can say where the
mourning ends and the
dance begins? They are
never separated. Mourning
calls for dancing,
dancing for mourning.
Glory is hidden in pain.
And in this mysterious
duality that has become a
duet, Vincent celebrates
life.”

“In SOLIDARITY we cry out with those who suffer. In

CONSOLATION we feel deeply with those in pain. And finally,
we offer COMFORT by pointing beyond our shared human pains
to glimpses of strength and hope.“- Henri Nouwen (SPIRITUAL
FORMATION)
"Perfect love is the love of a God who is not needy, who doesn't cling to us, who leaves us
free to love as we decide, and who gives love freely. This love of God for you will gradually
- sometimes even suddenly - just dissipate your fears. Because the love of our Maker
embraces all the loves you have ever known: of your father, your mother, your brothers and
sisters, your teachers, your lovers, your friends. They're all present with you before God. But
God's love for you is even more than that; it transcends everything you know or experience."
#HenriNouwen HOME TONIGHT
"Walking through one of the buildings
where I hadn't been before, I came
across a reproduction of Hazard
Durfee's beautiful flute player with
the text by Henry David Thoreau:
'Why should we be in such
desperate haste to succeed and in
such desperate enterprises? If a
man does not keep pace with his
companions, perhaps it is because
he hears a different drummer. Let
him step to the music which he
hears, however measured or far
away.' It is quite understandable
why one of the books on Thomas
Merton is called 'A Different
Drummer', and the longer I look at
the quiet concentrated face of
Durfee's flutist, the more I realize
that the contemplative life is like
hearing a different drummer.“

THE GENESEE DIARY

 Don’t Fear
To
Much
The Storms
&
Winds
Of my daily
Life .

"Dear Lord, today I thought of the words of Vincent van Gogh: 'It is true there is an
ebb and flow, but the sea remains the sea.' You are the sea. Although I experience
may ups and downs in my emotions and often feel great shifts and changes in my
inner life, you remain the same. Your sameness is not the sameness of a rock, but the
sameness of a faithful lover. Out of your love I came to life, by your love I am
sustained, and to your love I am always called back. There are days of sadness and
days of joy, there are feelings of guilt and feelings of gratitude, there are moments of
failure and moments of success, but all of them are embraced by your unwavering
love.... O Lord, sea of love and goodness, let me not fear too much the storms and
winds of my daily life, and let me know there is ebb and flow but the sea remains the
 Journey
to
Home
"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. “
#HenriNouwen
FINDING MY WAY HOME
"Compassion means to
become close to the one
who suffers. But we can
come close to another
person only when we are
willing to become
vulnerable ourselves. A
compassionate person says:
'I am your brother; I am
your sister; I am human,
fragile, and mortal, just
like you. I am not
scandalized by your tears,
nor afraid of your pain. I
too have wept. I too have
felt pain.' We can be with
the other only when the
other ceases to be other
and becomes like us. This,
perhaps, is the main
reason that we sometimes
find it easier to show
pity without compassion.

How can I respond to someone's loneliness unless I am in touch with my own

experience of loneliness?
How can I be close to handicapped people when I refuse to acknowledge my
own handicaps?
How can I be with the poor when I am unwilling to confess my own
poverty?"
"Not being welcome is your greatest
fear. It connects with your birth fear,
your fear of not being welcome in
this life, and your death fear, your
fear of not being welcome in the life
after this. It is the deep-seated fear
that it would have been better if you
had not lived.
Here you are facing the core of the
spiritual battle. Are you going to
give in to the forces of darkness that
say you are not welcome in this life,
or can you trust the voice of the One
who came not to condemn you but
to set you free from fear? You have
to choose life. At every moment you
have to decide to trust the voice that
says, 'I love you. I knit you together
in your mother's womb.'
(Psalm 139:13)
Everything Jesus is saying to you
can be summarized in the words
'Know that you are welcome.' Jesus
offers you his own most intimate life
with the Father." #HenriNouwen 
 "The great temptation is to use our
obvious failures and disappointments in
our lives to convince being loved.
Because what do we have to show for
ourselves?
But for a person of faith the opposite is
true. The many failures may open that
place in us where we have nothing to
brag about but everything to be loved
for. It is becoming a child again, a child
who is loved simply for being, simply for
smiling, ourselves that we are really not
worth simply for reaching out.
This is the way to spiritual maturity: to
receive love as a pure, free gift."
#HenriNouwen
UNPUBLISHED JOURNAL
 “Jesus was a revolutionary, who did
not become an extremist,
since he did not offer an ideology, but
HIMSELF.”

“experience tells us that we can only

love because we are born out of love,
that we can only give because our life
is a gift, and that we can only make
others free because we are set free by
Him whose heart is greater than ours.
When we have found the anchor
places for our lives in our own center,
we can be free to let others enter into
the space created for them and allow
them to dance their own dance, sing
their own song and speak their own
language without fear.”
― The Wounded Healer
 Listen
to your
Inner voice
"Do not hesitate to love
and to love deeply. You
might be afraid of the
pain that deep love can
cause. When those you love
deeply reject you, leave
you, or die, your heart
will be broken. But that
should not hold you back
from loving deeply. The
pain that comes from deep
love makes your love even
more fruitful. It is like
a plow that breaks the
ground to allow the seed
to take root and grow into
a stronger plant.

Every time you experience

the pain of rejection,
absence, or death, you are
faced with a choice. You
can become bitter and
decide not to love again,
or you can stand straight
in your pain and let the
soil on which you stand
become richer and more
able to give life to new
seeds." #HenriNouwen 
THE INNER VOICE OF LOVE
 "Hope is an attitude where everything stays open before me. It is
daring to stay open to whatever today will offer me, or tomorrow, two
months from now or a year from now, that is hope... Whenever we
pray with hope, we put our lives in the hands of God. Fear and anxiety
fade away and everything we are deprived of is nothing but a finger
pointing out the direction of God's hidden promise." #HenriNouwen
WITH OPEN HANDS