The Quality of Life - By Henry Nouwen

"It is very hard to accept an early death. When friends die who are seventy, eighty, or ninety years old, we may be in deep grief and miss them very much, but we are grateful that they had long lives. But when a teenager, a young adult, or a person at the height of his or her career dies, we feel a protest rising from our hearts: "Why? Why so soon? Why so young? It is unfair."

"But far more important than our quantity of years is the quality of our lives. Jesus died young. St. Francis died young. St. Thérèse of Lisieux died young, Martin Luther King, Jr., died young. We do not know how long we will live, but this not knowing calls us to live every day, every week, every year of our lives to its fullest potential."
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Share your thoughts on this reflection. These reflections are taken from Henri J.M. Nouwen's Bread for the Journey.

Visit HenriNouwen.org for more inspiration!

SILENCE by Richard Rohr

"This is one good thing the silence has taught me: our lives are useable by God. We need not always be effective, but only transparent and vulnerable. Then we are instruments, no matter what we do.

"God takes it from there, and there is not much point in comparing who is better, right, higher or lower, or supposedly saved. We are all partial images slowly coming into focus, as long as we allow and filter the Light and Love of God, which longs to shine through us—as us!"

Adapted from Contemplation in Action, p. 134

Focusing Our Minds and Hearts

Of course volumes have been written on this subject, "Focusing Our Minds and Hearts," but Henry Nouwen boils it down beautifully here into a couple of paragraphs:

"How can we stay in solitude when we feel that deep urge to be distracted by people and events? The most simple way is to focus our minds and hearts on a word or picture that reminds us of God. By repeating quietly: "The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want," or by gazing lovingly at an icon of Jesus, we can bring our restless minds to some rest and experience a gentle divine presence.

"This doesn't happen overnight. It asks a faithful practice. But when we spend a few moments every day just being with God, our endless distractions will gradually disappear."

These reflections are taken from Henri J.M. Nouwen's Bread for the Journey

Jackie Pullinger - Go

Jackie Pullinger - Go

Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, (Author of "Dead Man Walking)

Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, (Author of "Dead Man Walking) The Difference Network, Marquette University