The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing… not healing, not curing… that is a friend who cares. – Henri Nouwen
Ministry is the least important thing. You cannot not minister if you are in communion with God and live in community. – Henri Nouwen
In their poverty, the mentally handicapped reveal God to us and hold us close to the gospel. – Henri Nouwen
When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. – Henri Nouwen
When you think of the huge uninterrupted success of a book like Don Quixote, youre bound to realize that if humankind have not yet finished being revenged, by sheer laughter, for being let down in their greatest hope, it is because that hope was cherished so long and lay so deep! – Georges Bernanos