It is God’s passionate pursuit of us that calls us to prayer.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that God's deep desire for connection with us compels us to engage in prayer.
Henri Nouwen's quote suggests that the act of prayer is an invitation from God, who actively seeks a relationship with us. It underscores the notion that prayer is not just a practice of speaking to God, but rather a response to a divine call rooted in love and passion. Recognizing God's longing for us can inspire a deeper commitment to our spiritual life and dialogue with the divine.
In practice
During a spiritual retreat, I shared this quote to encourage participants to reflect on their relationship with God.
The Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self. God loves us, not because of what we do or accomplish, but because God has created and redeemed us in love.
The immense joy in welcoming back the lost son hides in the immense sorrow that has gone before....our brokenness may appear beautiful, but our brokenness has no other beauty but the beauty that comes from the compassion that surrounds it.
Suffering invites us to place our hurts in larger hands. In Christ we see God suffering – for us. And calling us to share in God’s suffering love for a hurting world. The small and even overpowering pains of our lives are intimately connected with the greater pains of Christ. Our daily sorrows are anchored in a greater sorrow and therefore a larger hope.
To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, welcome, to accept.
Waiting is a dry desert between where we are and where we want to be. (Finding My Way Home)
Becoming the beloved is pulling the truth revealed to me from above down into the ordinariness of what I am, in fact, thinking of, talking about and doing from hour to hour.
The beloved of Allah are the perfume of Allah upon this world, but only the true, sincere believers have noses to smell them. They smell that beautiful perfume; they follow that smell. That perfume creates a yearning in their hearts for their Lord, and as a result the sincere believers increase their pace, efforts and devotions.
The fire has its flame and praises God._x000D_ _x000D_ The wind blows the flame and praises God._x000D_ _x000D_ In the voice we hear the word which praises God._x000D_ _x000D_ And the word, when heard, praises God._x000D_ _x000D_ So all of creation is a song of praise to God.
Prayer is speaking to God - but sometimes He uses our times of prayerful silence to speak to us in return.
He chose to honor us with His priesthood. So we honor Him by honoring His priesthood - both its power and those who bear it.
I try to remind myself not to go anywhere or do anything without asking for spiritual direction through prayer and meditation.
The prayer life does not consist of perpetual repetition of petitions. The prayer life consists of life that is always upward and onward and Godward
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