Spiritual Formation Quotes

“Whereas discipline without discipleship leads to rigid formalism, discipleship without discipline ends in sentimental romanticism.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit – A Guide to Encountering God Through the Five Classical Stages

“We often say, “I am not very happy. I am not content with the way my life is going. I am not really joyful or peaceful. But I don’t know how things can be different, and I guess I have to be realistic and accept my life as it is.” It is this mood of resignation that prevents us from actively naming our reality, articulating our experience, and moving more deeply into the life of the Spirit.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit – A Guide to Encountering God Through the Five Classical Stages

“I asked him how he had been able to take such a splendid picture. With a smile he said, “Well, I had only to be very patient and very attentive. It was only after a few hours of compliments that the lily was willing to let me take her picture.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit – A Guide to Encountering God Through the Five Classical Stages

“Doctors, lawyers, and psychologists study to become qualified professionals who are paid to know what to do. A well-trained theologian or minister is only able to point out the universal tendency to narrow God down to our own little conceptions and expectations, and to call for an open mind and heart for God to be revealed.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit – A Guide to Encountering God Through the Five Classical Stages

“We might be competent in many subjects, but we cannot become an expert in the things of God. God is greater than our minds and cannot be caught within the boundaries of our finite concepts. Thus, spiritual formation leads not to a proud understanding of divinity, but to docta ignorantia, an “articulate not-knowing.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit – A Guide to Encountering God Through the Five Classical Stages

“Spiritual formation prepares us for a life in which we move away from our fears, compulsions, resentments, and sorrows, to serve with joy and courage in the world, even when this leads us to places we would rather not go. Spiritual formation helps us to see the face of God in the midst of a hardened world and in our own heart. This freedom helps us to use our skills and our very lives to make that face visible to all who live in bondage and fear. As Jesus told his disciples: “So, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit – A Guide to Encountering God Through the Five Classical Stages

“The Bible is primarily a book not of information but of formation, not merely a book to be analyzed, scrutinized, and discussed but a sacred book to nurture us, to unify our hearts and minds, and to serve as a constant source of contemplation”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit – A Guide to Encountering God Through the Five Classical Stages

“Prayer helps us overcome the fear that is related to building our life just on the interpersonal—“What does he or she think of me? Who is my friend? Who is my enemy? Whom do I like? Dislike? Who rewards me? Punishes me? Says good things about me? Or doesn’t?” We are concerned about personal identity and distinctions from others. As long as our sense of self depends on what other people think about us and say about us, and on how they respond to us, we become prisoners of the interpersonal, of that interlocking of people, of clinging to each other in a search for identity; we are no longer free but fearful.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit – A Guide to Encountering God Through the Five Classical Stages

“detach ourselves from making our individual experience the criterion for our approach to others,”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit – A Guide to Encountering God Through the Five Classical Stages

“Ignorance makes us look for acceptance where it cannot be expected, and makes us hope for changes where they cannot be found. Illusion makes us fight for a new world as if we could create and control it ourselves; it makes us judge our neighbors as if we had the final word. Ignorance and illusion keep us entangled in the world and cause suffering and sorrow. But the way of the heart leads to freedom. The spiritual life is a life in which we are set free by the Spirit of God to enjoy life in all its fullness. By this Spirit we can indeed “be in the world without being of it” we can move freely without being bound by false attachments; we can speak freely without fear of human rejection; and we can live with peace and joy even when surrounded by conflict and sadness.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit – A Guide to Encountering God Through the Five Classical Stages

“To serve means to minister, to love and care for others, and to recognize in them the heart of God. A true disciple of Jesus will always go to where people are feeling weak, broken, sick, in pain, poor, lonely, forgotten, anxious, and lost. It is often hard to go to places of weakness and rejection to offer consolation and comfort. It is possible only when we discover the presence of Jesus among the poor and weak and realize the many gifts they have to offer. Therefore, spiritual formation always includes responding from the heart to the needs of the poor in a spirit of true compassion.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit – A Guide to Encountering God Through the Five Classical Stages

“A true disciple of Jesus will always go to where people are feeling weak, broken, sick, in pain, poor, lonely, forgotten, anxious, and lost.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit – A Guide to Encountering God Through the Five Classical Stages

“His own call to the ministry was followed by “years of wandering” that became intensified during a period of mental disturbance in which he began to “read” the document of his own life. Boisen felt that studying the spiritual life with God “must not begin with tradition or systems formulated in books, but with open minded exploration of living human experience.”6 Actively reflecting on what Boisen called “the living document” of your life and times clarifies the inner polarities of our human condition and points toward a greater wholeness. In gaining knowledge of the heart, we find that “what is most personal is most universal.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit – A Guide to Encountering God Through the Five Classical Stages

“La formación espiritual exige emprender un viaje al interior del corazón. Aunque este viaje se realiza dentro de la comunidad y conduce al servicio, la primera tarea es mirar dentro de uno mismo, reflexionar sobre nuestra vida cotidiana y buscar a Dios y su actuar justamente ahí.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Formación espiritual. Siguiendo los impulsos del Espíritu (Pozo de Siquem nº 280)

“vivir la vida espiritual y dejarnos llenar por la presencia de Dios exige orar constantemente;”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Formación espiritual. Siguiendo los impulsos del Espíritu (Pozo de Siquem nº 280)

“John Henry Newman views the visible world as a veil “so that all that exists or happens visibly, conceals and yet suggests, and above all serves, a greater system of persons, facts and events beyond itself.”3”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit – A Guide to Encountering God Through the Five Classical Stages