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Love, Henri: Letters on the Spiritual Life QUOTES

Love, Henri: Letters on the Spiritual Life QUOTES

1 " But you need a spiritual discipline. You need a lot of time to pray, to spend time in solitude and to speak regularly about your love for God, and God’s love for you. Once you take this route life will certainly not become easier but it will be a lot more real and a lot more vital. Nurture your contemplative side, be in a constant conversation (conversatio) with Him, who loves you most intimately, and let yourself be swept off your feet in that great encounter. Don’t worry too much about Yoga or fasting. They might be helpful, they might not. They might even prove to be somewhat of a distraction. You will soon know. I wished that you could spend a good amount of time in a place where you can do nothing else than pray. Pray with words, songs, silence, or just pray by being here and now. Maybe you can go to an abbey or a monastery for that purpose. I love to help you find a good place. But it seems important that at some point you take time out for God and God alone so that after that you will have an inner sensitivity to the spiritual life which will also help you a lot in "

― Henri J.M. Nouwen , Love, Henri: Letters on the Spiritual Life

2 " Personally I believe that being an elder can be a real grace. After having seen so much of life and having “made it” in so many ways there is still that possibility of growing into a second childhood, a second naiveté. I think that is quite an exciting possibility and I pray that God will allow you to be reborn in such a new way of being. "

― Henri J.M. Nouwen , Love, Henri: Letters on the Spiritual Life