Love deeply

Henri Nouwen: Love Deeply from ‘Inner Voice of Love’

 

 Do not hesitate to love and to love deeply. You might be afraid of the pain that

deep love can cause. When those you love deeply reject you, leave you, or die, your heart will be broken. But that should not hold back from loving deeply. The pain that comes from deep love makes your love ever more fruitful. It is like a plow that breaks the ground to allow the seed to take root and grow into a strong plant. Every time you experience the pain of rejection, absence, or death, you are faced with a choice. You can become bitter and decide not to love again, or you can stand straight in your pain and let the soil on which you stand become richer and more able to give life to new seeds.

  

 The more you have loved and have allowed yourself to suffer because of your love, the more you will be able to let your heart grow wider and deeper. When your love is truly giving and receiving, those whom you love will not leave your heart enen when they depart from you. They will become part of your self and thus gradually build a community within you. 

 

 Those you have deeply loved become part of you. The longer you live, there will always be more people to be loved by you and to become part of your inner community. The wider your inner community becomes, the more easily you will recognize your own brothers and sisters in the strangers around you. Those who are alive within you will recognize those who are alive around you. The wider the community of your heart, the wider the community around you. Thus the pain of rejection, absence, and death can become fruitful. Yes, as you love deeply the ground of your heart will be broken more and more, but you will rejoice in the abundance of the fruit it will bear.

헨리 나우웬: 1932년 1월 24일 생/ 1957년 예수회 사제 서품/ 1971년 예일대 교수/ 1981년 페루 빈민가에서 민중들과 함께 사심, 하버드 대학에서 강의/ 1986년 정신박약 장애자 공동체인 데이브레이크에서 사역/ 1996년 10월 2일 심장마비로 별세

 2014년 4월 26일 리치몬드 힐 데이브레이크에서 '삶의 의미와 안식, 나눔'을 묵상하며