Laying Down Your Life for Your Friends

Good Shepherds are willing to lay down their lives for their sheep (see John 10:11). As spiritual leaders walking in the footsteps of Jesus, we are called to lay down our lives for our people. This laying down might in special circumstances mean dying for others. But it means first of all making our own lives - our sorrows and joys, our despair and hope, our loneliness and experience of intimacy - available to others as sources of new life.
One of the greatest gifts we can give others is ourselves. We offer consolation and comfort, especially in moments of crisis, when we say: "Do not be afraid, I know what you are living and I am living it with you. You are not alone." Thus we become Christ-like shepherds.

- Henri Nouwen

The Shepherd and the Sheep

Spiritual leadership is the leadership of the Good Shepherd. As Jesus says, good shepherds know their sheep, and their sheep know them (see John 10:14). There must be a true mutuality between shepherds and their sheep. Good leaders know their own, and their own know them. Between them is mutual trust, mutual openness, mutual care, and mutual love. To follow our leaders we cannot be afraid of them, and to lead our followers we need their encouragement and support.
Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd to show the great intimacy that must exist between leaders and those entrusted to them. Without such intimacy, leadership easily becomes oppressive.

- Henri Nouwen

On The Journey Toward Claiming my Vocation

This past Christmas Eve was such a blessed experience for me. I have created a custom of cooking a traditional Italian fish dinner and sharing it with the L'Arche home to which I'm connected. I love fussing over the shopping and preparation of the meal, the table settings and ambiance. It is a celebration of some of the best things that I have inherited - love of good food and family, hospitality, doing for others, faith. After dinner, I went to the children's mass at Our Lady of Lourdes. As the rows of pageant angels walked up the aisle, I was aware of the love of family and friends, certainty about who I am and am called to be, and God's love for her people in all our beauty and goofiness.
If my plans as a young person had come to pass, my life would have been wasted. I longed to be the person I thought I must be in order to be loved. I felt that I ought to be emotionally strong, deeply serious about building the Kingdom, a man of prayer... It almost killed me.
I still struggle to live the life of a committed Christian. I am grateful that there are strong, committed individuals out there. We need them. But I too am needed. I am sometimes strong, sometimes messy. I do care about people and community, even if I am often lazy and self-centred. I can pray with depth of gratitude and then forget God for days on end. Through it all, God seems to love me as I am - sometimes that nourishes growth! Thank God.

- John Guido

The Authority of Compassion

Mostly we think of people with great authority as higher up, far away, hard to reach. But spiritual authority comes from compassion and emerges from deep inner solidarity with those who are "subject" to authority. The one who is fully like us, who deeply understands our joys and pains or hopes and desires, and who is willing and able to walk with us, that is the one to whom we gladly give authority and whose "subjects" we are willing to be.
It is the compassionate authority that empowers, encourages, calls forth hidden gifts, and enables great things to happen. True spiritual authorities are located in the point of an upside-down triangle, supporting and holding into the light everyone they offer their leadership to.

- Henri Nouwen

Authority and Obedience

Authority and obedience can never be divided, with some people having all the authority while others only have to obey. This separation causes authoritarian behaviour on the one side and doormat behaviour on the other. It perverts authority as well as obedience. A person with great authority who has nobody to be obedient to is in great spiritual danger. A very obedient person who has no authority over anyone is equally in danger.
Jesus spoke with great authority, but his whole life was complete obedience to his Father, and Jesus, who said to his Father, "Let it be as you, not I, would have it" (Matthew 26:39), has been given all authority in heaven and on earth (see Matthew 28:18). Let us ask ourselves: Do we live our authority in obedience and do we live our obedience with authority?

- Henri Nouwen

Being Handed Over to Suffering

People who live close together can be sources of great sorrow for one another. When Jesus chose his twelve apostles, Judas was one of them. Judas is called a traitor. A traitor, according to the literal meaning of the Greek word for "betraying," is someone who hands the other over to suffering.
The truth is that we all have something of the traitor in us because each of us hands our fellow human beings over to suffering somehow, somewhere, mostly without intending or even knowing it. Many children, even grown-up children, can experience deep anger toward their parents for having protected them too much or too little. When we are willing to confess that we often hand those we love over to suffering, even against our best intentions, we will be more ready to forgive those who, mostly against their will, are the causes of our pain.

- Henri Nouwen

Loving Our Spiritual Leaders

Religious leaders, priests, ministers, rabbis, and imams can be admired and revered but also hated and despised. We expect that our religious leaders will bring us closer to God through their prayers, teaching, and guidance. Therefore, we watch their behaviour carefully and listen critically to their words. But precisely because we expect, often without fully realising it, to be superhuman, we are easily disappointed or even feel betrayed when they prove to be just as human as we are. Thus, our unmitigated admiration quickly turns into unrestrained anger.
Let's try to love our religious leaders, forgive them their faults, and see them as brothers and sisters. Then we will enable them, in their brokenness, to lead us closer to the heart of God.

- Henri Nouwen

Avoiding The Trouble Spots

In her beautiful novel about Maine, "The Country of the Pointed Firs", Sara Orne Jewett describes the ascent of a woman writer on the pathway leading to the home of a retired sea captain named Elijah Tilley.
On the way, the woman notes a number of wooden stakes randomly scattered about the property, with no discernible order. Each is painted white and trimmed in yellow, like the captain's house. Curious, she asks Captain Tilley what they mean. When he first ploughed the ground, he says, his plough snagged on many large rocks just beneath the surface. So he set out the stakes where the rocks lay in order to avoid them in the future.
In a sense, this is what God has done with the Ten Commandments... He has said, "These are the trouble spots in life. Avoid these, and you won't snag your plough."

- John Killinger in "To My People with Love"

A Dependable Love

After Calvary, God has the right to be trusted; to be believed that He means what He says; and that His love is dependable.

- A. J. Gossip in "In the Secret Place of the Most High"

The Storms Of Life

How often we look upon God as our last and feeblest resource! We go to Him because we have nowhere else to go. And then we learn that the storms of life have driven us, not upon the rocks, but into the desired haven.

- George MacDonald

The Act Of Commitment

In religion, we are not asked to make up our minds, we are asked to make up our lives... We may refuse to make up our minds, but our lives get made up, one way or the other... Whatever we believe with our minds, our lives are committed either to God's way or to the God-denying way, and what matters in religion is the act of commitment.

- A. Leonard Griffith in "Barriers to Christian Belief"

Letting God Lead

When I meditated on the word GUIDANCE, I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word. I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing. When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn't flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky. When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music.
One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another. It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other.
My eyes drew back to the word GUIDANCE. When I saw "G," I thought of God, followed by "u" and "i." "God, "u" and "i" dance." God, you, and I dance. As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust that I would get guidance about my life. Once again, I became willing to let God lead.
Dance together with God, trusting God to lead and to guide you through each season of your life.

- Unknown

I saw Jesus

I saw Jesus last week.
He was wearing blue jeans and an old shirt.
He was up at the church building.
He was alone and working hard.
For just a minute he looked a little like one of our members.
But it was Jesus – I could tell by his smile.

I saw Jesus yesterday.
He was at the hospital visiting a friend who was sick.
They prayed together quietly.
For just a minute he looked like Brother Jones.
But it was Jesus – I could tell by the tears in his eyes.

I saw Jesus this morning.
He was in the kitchen making my breakfast and fixing me a special lunch.
Or just a minute he looked like my mum.
But it was Jesus – I could feel the love from his heart.

I see Jesus everywhere,
Taking food to the sick,
Welcoming others to his home,
Being friendly to a newcomer,
And for just a minute I think he’s someone I know.
But it’s always Jesus – I can tell by the way he serves.

by Summer Waters (age 11)

From Blaming to Forgiving

Our most painful suffering often comes from those who love us and those we love. The relationships between husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters, teachers and students, pastors and parishioners - these are where our deepest wounds occur. Even late in life, yes, even after those who wounded us have long since died, we might still need help to sort out what happened in these relationships.
The great temptation is to keep blaming those who were closest to us for our present, condition saying: "You made me who I am now, and I hate who I am." The great challenge is to acknowledge our hurts and claim our true selves as being more than the result of what other people do to us. Only when we can claim our God-made selves as the true source of our being will we be free to forgive those who have wounded us.

- Henri Nouwen

Messengers Of Joy

Christ came to bring joy: joy to children, joy to parents, joy to families and to friends, joy to workers and to scholars, joy to the sick and joy to the elderly, joy to all humanity. In a true sense, joy is the keynote of the Christian message and the recurring motif of the Gospels... Be messengers of joy.

- Pope John Paul II in "The Times of the Spirit"

Being Humble and Confident

As we look at the stars and let our minds wander into the many galaxies, we come to feel so small and insignificant that anything we do, say, or think seems completely useless. But if we look into our souls and let our minds wander into the endless galaxies of our interior lives, we become so tall and significant that everything we do, say, or think appears of great importance.
We have to keep looking both ways to remain humble and confident, humorous and serious, playful and responsible. Yes, the human person is very small and very tall. It is the tension between the two that keeps us spiritually awake.

- Henri Nouwen

On The Journey Toward Claiming my Vocation

Last year I was invited to enter the discernment process for a position that in every way appeared to be the fulfillment of my vocational path. Yet it would require me to disrupt my academic and training programs and leave my home. After months of discussion and prayer, I was indeed "called." Would I come? It is no exaggeration to say that this was the most difficult decision I have ever been asked to make. Both my current work and this new call felt like good and holy paths, with opportunities to live my gifts and to serve others. Both offered possibilities for deep relationships and spiritual growth.
I confess I was not pleased with God for presenting me with this choice. I spent many days on retreat grappling with myself and with God. And then I remembered Henri Nouwen's words to me: "Spiritual maturity is not knowing what to do with your whole life," he said, "but just knowing what to do next." I stopped thinking about it and listened. I listened until it hurt. And then I knew. I must stay and not go.
The ten years since that meeting with Henri have seen dreams fulfilled, dreams discarded, and many, many surprises. I know now that vocation is an invitation to a deep listening that requires a willingness to be interrupted in our plans, shaken in our beliefs, even shattered in our images of ourselves. I know now that we cannot "claim our vocation." "You did not choose me," Jesus said, "but I chose you." We can only dare to be claimed, to live the joy of the yes, and to embrace the reality of the losses that are inevitable in every yes. Then, when we are truly claimed, we must know that this identity too may be interrupted. And this, too, is good.

by Lisa Cataldo

Filled With God's Peace

Saints are people who are faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ... A faithful Christian life exhibits ongoing and active faith. Faith is tested by the tough stuff in life - when the chips are down and the heat is turned up. I read about an elderly woman, badly crippled by arthritis, who was asked. "Do you suffer much?" She pointed to her hand and responded, "Yes, but there is no nail here. He had the nails, I have the peace." She then pointed to her head saying, "There are no thorns here. He had the thorns, I have the peace." Finally, she touched her side and declared, "There is no spear here. He had the spear, I have the peace." This faithful woman was a modern-day saint. She understood the incredible gift of grace given to her by God, and she was filled with "God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand" (Philippians 4:7, NLT).

- Lenya Heitzig and Penny Pierce Rose "Pathway to God's Treasure: Ephesians"

Deeply Rooted in God

Trees that grow tall have deep roots. Great height without great depth is dangerous. The great leaders of this world - like St. Francis, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr., - were all people who could live with public notoriety, influence, and power in a humble way because of their deep spiritual rootedness.
Without deep roots we easily let others determine who we are. But as we cling to our popularity, we may lose our true sense of self. Our clinging to the opinion of others reveals how superficial we are. We have little to stand on. We have to be kept alive by adulation and praise. Those who are deeply rooted in the love of God can enjoy human praise without being attached to it.

- Henri Nouwen

Contagious Kindness

It's 4:00 a.m. I'm headed to the airport for an early flight. I stop at the doughnut shop. Eight or ten truck drivers are standing around. I ask, "Is this a line?" Someone says no, so I order a coffee and muffin. Several dollar bills lay on the counter, and I say loudly "Someone forgot their change." A driver steps forward. I quip, "Thought you were buying my coffee."
He says to me, "Why not?" And to the doughnut man: "I'm covering the man's coffee."
The doughnut man replies, "Nice! I'll throw in his muffin."
My breakfast is a gift from strangers, a serendipitous moment, and such a glad one that for the next several hours I find myself being cheerful and generous to every stranger I meet. SARS may be contagious, but so is kindheartedness.

- Gordon MacDonald

Friends as Reminders of Our Truth

Sometimes our sorrow overwhelms us so much that we no longer can believe in joy. Life just seems a cup filled to the brim with war, violence, rejection, loneliness, and endless disappointments.
At times like this we need our friends to remind us that crushed grapes can produce tasty wine. It might be hard for us to trust that any joy can come from our sorrow, but when we start taking steps in the direction of our friends' advice, even when we ourselves are not yet able to feel the truth of what they say, the joy that seemed to be lost may be found again and our sorrow may become liveable.

- Henri Nouwen

An Intimate And Personal Relationship

"For He said, 'Surely they are My people, Children who will not lie.' So He became their Saviour." (Isaiah 63:8 NKJV)

As the great Jewish theologian Abraham Heschel put it in "The Prophets", "To the prophet, God does not reveal Himself in an abstract absoluteness, but in a personal and intimate relation to the world. He does not simply command and expect obedience; He is also moved and affected by what happens in the world, and reacts accordingly. Events and human actions arouse in Him joy or sorrow, pleasure or wrath... Man's deeds may move Him, affect Him, grieve Him or, on the other hand, gladden and please Him. ...the God of Israel is a God Who loves, a God Who is known to, and concerned with, man. He not only rules the world in the majesty of His might and wisdom, but reacts intimately to the events of history."
More than any other word pictures, God chooses "children" and "lovers" to describe our relationship with Him as being intimate and personal.

- Philip Yancey in "The Bible Jesus Read"

Daring to Become Dependent

When someone gives us a watch but we never wear it, the watch is not really received. When someone offers us an idea but we do not respond to it, that idea is not truly received. When someone introduces us to a friend but we ignore him or her, that friend does not feel well received.
Receiving is an art. It means allowing the other to become part of our lives. It means daring to become dependent on the other. It asks for the inner freedom to say: "Without you I wouldn't be who I am." Receiving with the heart is therefore a gesture of humility and love. So many people have been deeply hurt because their gifts were not well received. Let us be good receivers.

- Henri Nouwen

The Importance of Receiving

Receiving often is harder than giving. Giving is very important: giving insight, giving hope, giving courage, giving advice, giving support, giving money, and, most of all, giving ourselves. Without giving there is no brotherhood and sisterhood.
But receiving is just as important, because by receiving we reveal to the givers that they have gifts to offer. When we say, "Thank you, you gave me hope; thank you, you gave me a reason to live; thank you, you allowed me to realise my dream," we make givers aware of their unique and precious gifts. Sometimes it is only in the eyes of the receivers that givers discover their gifts.

- Henri Nouwen

The Dignity to Give and Receive

"Nobody is so poor that he/she has nothing to give, and nobody is so rich that he/she has nothing to receive." These words by Pope John-Paul II, offer a powerful direction for all who want to work for peace. No peace is thinkable as long as the world remains divided into two groups: those who give and those who receive. Real human dignity is found in giving as well as receiving. This is true not only for individuals but for nations, cultures, and religious communities as well.
A true vision of peace sees a continuous mutuality between giving and receiving. Let's never give anything without asking ourselves what we are receiving from those to whom we give, and let's never receive anything without asking what we have to give to those from whom we receive.

- Henri Nouwen

The Beauty of Shyness

There is something beautiful about shyness, even though in our culture shyness is not considered a virtue. On the contrary, we are encouraged to be direct, look people straight in the eyes, tell them what is on our minds, and share our stories without a blush.
But this unflinching soul-baring, confessional attitude quickly becomes boring. It is like trees without shadows. Shy people have long shadows, where they keep much of their beauty hidden from intruders' eyes. Shy people remind us of the mystery of life that cannot be simply explained or expressed. They invite us to reverent and respectful friendships and to a wordless being together in love.

- Henri Nouwen

Foolishness

"Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe... We proclaim Christ crucified,... Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength." (1 Corinthians 1:20b-25 NRSV)
Scripture nowhere condemns the acquisition of knowledge. It is the wisdom of this world, not its knowledge, that is foolishness with God... The history of philosophy is a story of contradictory, discarded hypotheses... Many of them have failed to avail themselves of that which would unravel every knot and solve every problem, namely, the revelation of God in Christ as given in the Holy Scriptures.

- Harry A. Ironside

A Guide For Our Path

Mahatma Gandhi once said, "The various religions are like different roads converging on the same point. What difference does it make if we follow different routes, provided we arrive at the same destination." I find it interesting to note that he qualified his statement by concluding, "provided we arrive at the same destination". That seems like an enormous proviso. What if one's religion doesn't get them where they want to go, namely to be with God in heaven? It's a little late at that point to get on a different road.
I guess I would rather place my proviso on the One who had been there all ready, and had come to guide us there. 1 John 4:14 says, "We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God." Jesus, the risen Christ, said of Himself, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)

- Rev. David T. Wilkinson

Who was Jesus?

He began His ministry by being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life.
Jesus ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the Living Water.
Jesus was weary, yet He is our rest.
Jesus paid tribute, yet He is the King.
Jesus was accused of having a demon, yet He cast out demons.
Jesus wept, yet He wipes away our tears.
Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the world.
Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, yet He is the Good Shepherd.
Jesus died, yet by His death He destroyed the power of death.

- Gregory of Nazianzus, A.D. 381

The Hands And Feet Of Christ

Jesus' hands and feet were not just anyone's hand and feet, but the signs of His real bodily presence. They were the hands and feet of Jesus marked with the wounds of His Crucifixion. It is of great spiritual importance that Jesus made Himself known to His disciples by showing them His wounded body. The Resurrection had not taken His wounds away, but, rather, they had become part of His Glory. They had become glorified wounds.
Jesus is the Lord who came to save us by dying for us on the Cross. The wounds in Jesus' glorified body remind us of the way in which we are saved. But they also remind us that our own wounds are much more than roadblocks on our way to God. They show us our own unique way to follow the suffering Christ, and they are destined to become glorified in our resurrected life. Just as Jesus was identified by His wounds, so are we.
This mystery is hard to grasp, but it is of the greatest importance in helping us to deal with our own brokenness.

- Henri Nouwen

Travelling With the Eyes of God

Travelling - seeing new sights, hearing new music, and meeting new people - is exciting and exhilarating. But when we have no home to return to where someone will ask us, "How was your trip?" we might be less eager to go. Travelling is joyful when we travel with the eyes and ears of those who love us, who want to see our slides and hear our stories.
This is what life is about. It is being sent on a trip by a loving God, who is waiting at home for our return and is eager to watch the slides we took and hear about the friends we made. When we travel with the eyes and ears of the God who sent us, we will see wonderful sights, hear wonderful sounds, meet wonderful people ... and be happy to return home.

by Henri Nouwen