Show Me the Way Quotes

“But mortification - literally, "making death" - is what life is all about, a slow discovery of the mortality of all that is created so that we can appreciate its beauty without clinging to it as if it were a lasting possession. Our lives can indeed be seen as a process of becoming familiar with death, as a school in the art of dying . . . all these times have passed by like friendly visitors, leaving you with dear memories but also with the sad recognition of the shortness of life. In every arrival there is a leave-taking; in every reunion there is a separation; in each one's growing up there is a growing old; in every smile there is a tear; and in every success there is a loss. All living is dying and all celebration is mortification too.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Show Me the Way: Daily Lenten Readings

“It is through the way of the cross that Jesus gives glory to God, receives glory from God, and makes God’s glory known to us. The glory of the resurrection can never be separated from the glory of the cross. The risen Lord always shows us his wounds.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Show Me the Way: Daily Lenten Readings

“Compulsive” is indeed the best adjective for the false self. It points to the need for ongoing and increasing affirmation. Who am I? I am the one who is liked, praised, admired, disliked, hated, or despised… The compulsion manifests itself in the lurking fear of failing and the steady urge to prevent this by gathering more of the same — more work, more money, more friends.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Show Me the Way: Daily Lenten Readings

“themselves such moments. Jesus Christ, who did not cling to his divinity, but became as we are, can be found where there are hungry, thirsty, alienated, naked, sick, and imprisoned people. Precisely when we live in an ongoing conversation with Christ and allow his Spirit to guide our lives, we will recognize him in the poor, the oppressed, and the downtrodden, and will hear his cry and respond to it wherever he reveals himself. So worship becomes ministry and ministry becomes worship, and all we say or do, ask for or give, becomes a way to the life in which God’s compassion can manifest itself.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Show Me the Way: Daily Lenten Readings

“The body is not a prison to escape from, but a temple in which God already dwells, and in which God’s glory will be fully manifested on the day of the resurrection.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Show Me the Way: Daily Lenten Readings

“the celebration of the resurrection of the body is also the celebration of the daily care given to the bodies of these handicapped men and women. Washing and feeding, pushing wheelchairs, carrying, kissing, and caressing— these are all ways in which these broken bodies are made ready for the moment of a new life. Not only their wounds but also the care given them will remain visible in the resurrection.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Show Me the Way: Daily Lenten Readings

“In every arrival there is a leave-taking; in every reunion there is a separation; in each one’s growing up there is a growing old; in every smile there is a tear; and in every success there is a loss. All living is dying, and all celebration is mortification too.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Show Me the Way: Daily Lenten Readings

“Our lives can indeed be seen as a process of becoming familiar with death, as a school in the art of dying. I do not mean this in a morbid way. On the contrary, when we see life constantly relativized by death, we can enjoy it for what it is: a free gift.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Show Me the Way: Daily Lenten Readings

“I’ve yet to meet anyone who has come closer to Jesus by forsaking the church.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Show Me the Way: Daily Lenten Readings

“Every time we celebrate the Eucharist and receive the bread and wine, the body and blood of Jesus, his suffering and his death become a suffering and death for us. Passion becomes compassion, for us. We are incorporated into Jesus. We become part of his “body” and in that most compassionate way are freed from our deepest solitude. Through the Eucharist we come to belong to Jesus in the most intimate way, to him who has suffered for us, died for us, and rose again so that we may suffer, die, and rise again with him.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Show Me the Way: Daily Lenten Readings

“For a Christian is only a Christian when he unceasingly asks critical questions of the society in which he lives and continuously stresses the necessity for conversion, not only of the individual but also of the world.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Show Me the Way: Daily Lenten Readings