Christian life is not a life divided between times for action and times for contemplation. No. Real social action is a way of contemplation, and real contemplation is the core of social action.

Henri J.m. Nouwen
About This Quote

St. Joseph Maria Vianney, the patron saint of priests, is known for his love for God and all humanity. He was renowned for his generosity to the poor, his compassionate actions toward those who had suffered, and his work to improve education for the children of less fortunate families. However, he was also known for being extremely busy. He would spend much of his time offering Masses to hundreds of parishioners at a time.

Some Similar Quotes
  1. No woman wants to be in submission to a man who isn't in submission to God! - T.d. Jakes
  2. This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience - it looks for a way of being constructive. Love is not possessive. Love is not anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own ideas. Love has good manners and... - Elisabeth Elliot
  3. In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. - John Bunyan
  4. I choose gentleness... Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle. If I raise my voice may it be only in praise. If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer. If I make a demand, may it be only of... - Max Lucado
  5. Music is an agreeable harmony for the honor of God and the permissible delights of the soul. - Johann Sebastian Bach
More Quotes By Henri J.m. Nouwen
  1. Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the...
  2. Every time we make the decision to love someone, we open ourselves to great suffering, because those we most love cause us not only great joy but also great pain. The greatest pain comes from leaving. When the child leaves home, when the husband or...
  3. The spiritual life does not remove us from the world but leads us deeper into it
  4. When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and...
  5. Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection. Success, popularity, and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are part...
Related Topics