"Compassion," Henri J. M. Nouwen

I read some amazing books during the past couple of weeks. "Compassion," by Henri J.M. Nouwen, "Life Together," by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and "Bethlehem Beseiged," by Mitri Raheb. All three of these books acted as guideposts to ministry, fellowship, and also the present political situation and God's control of circumstances.

I wanted to share some of the quotes from Henri Nouwen's book that continue to breath reminders into my life:

concerning confrontation:
- Jesus often engaged in confrontation and was rarely concerned about being tactful or pleasing others
- “We cannot suffer with the poor when we are unwilling to confront those persons and systems that cause poverty. We cannot set the captives free when we do not want to confront those who carry the keys. We cannot profess our solidarity with those who are oppressed when we are unwilling to confront the oppressor.”
- Self-Confrontation – “Probably the best criterion for determining whether our confrontation is compassionate rather than offensive, and our anger righteous rather than self-righteous, is to ask ourselves if we ourselves can be so confronted. … When we can be confronted by a NO from others, we will be more able to confront with a NO. Saying NO to evil and destruction in the awareness that they dwell in our own heart is a humble NO… And so all our NO’s become challenges to purify our own hearts… Each attempt to confront evil in the world calls for the realization that there are always two fronts on which the struggle takes place: an outer and an inner front.”

concerning fear:
- “Obedience is giving full attention to what the Father says to us in this very moment and responding lovingly to what we perceive, because God is our loving Father, in whom nothing that is not love can be found… When we are led by love instead of driven by fear, we can enter the places of the greatest darkness and pain and experience in a unique way the power of God’s care.”
- “Although Peter did not desire it, he was led to the cross as Jesus was. But because it was love and not fear that led him there, the cross was not longer a sign of defeat, but a sign of victory.”

concerning bombardment:
- “When there is no community that can mediate between world needs and personal responses, the burden of the world can only be a crushing burden… Confronted with human pain and at the same time reminded of our powerlessness, we feel offended to the very core of our being and fall back on our defenses of numbness and anger.”
- “Therefore, the question is, how can we see the suffering in our world and be moved to compassion as Jesus was moved when he saw a great crowd of people without food (Mt 14:14)?”
- “The Christian community mediates between the suffering of the world and our individual responses to this suffering… As a community we can transcend our individual limitations and become a concrete realization of the emptying way of Christ… As individuals we cannot be everything to everyone, but as a community we can indeed serve a great variety of needs. Moreover, by the constant support and encouragement of the community we find it possible to remain faithful to our commitment to service.”