"During the past few years, various friends have asked me, 'What do you mean when you speak about the spiritual life?' Every time this question has come up, I have wished I had a small and simple book which could offer the beginning of a response. I have felt that there was a place for a text that could be read within a few hours and could not only explain what the spiritual life is but also create a desire to live it. This feeling caused me to write Making All Things New..."

"The beginning of the spiritual life is often difficult not only because the powers which cause us to worry are so strong but also because the presence of God's Spirit seems barely noticeable. If, however, we are willing to live a life of prayer and practice the disciplines of solitude and community, a new hunger will make itself known. This new hunger is the first sign of God's presence. When we remain attentive to this divine presence, we will be led always deeper into the kingdom. There, to our joyful surprise, we will discover that the power of our worries is weakening and all things are being made new."
- -from Making All Things New...

One of the best-loved spiritual writers of our time takes a moving, personal look at human mortality

Henri Nouwen shares his own experiences with aging, loss, grief, and fear, gently and eloquently revealing the gifts that the living and dying can give to one another.

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Finding faith in a time of sorrow

Beloved author Henri Nouwen reflects on the spiritual significance of death and life in this moving meditation dedicated to "all those who suffer the pain that death can bring and who search for new life."...

Since it was first published more than twenty years ago, The Way of the Heart has helped millions of men and women cast off the anger and greed that trouble the world–and find love, compassion, and peace in the heart of God.

Inspired by the ancient teachings of St. Anthony and the Desert Fathers, The Way of the Heart clears before us a spiritual path consisting of three stepping-stones: Solitude (learning not to be alone but to be alone with God); Silence (the discipline by which the inner fire of God is tended and kept alive); and Prayer (standing in the presence of God with the mind in the heart).

Distinguished theologian Henri Nouwen brilliantly illuminates each of these disciplines. In reflections that are beautifully clear and practical, as uplifting on the fourth reading as on the first, he helps us separate the wheat from the chaff in our spiritual lives–and reconnects us with what truly matters.

Within this one small book lies the most relevant and inspiring challenge that we shall ever face: to surrender the compulsive noise of the world for the way of the heart that leads us to God....

One of the most popular of contemporary spiritual writers offers a profound and beautiful reflection on the meaning of the Eucharist for ourselves and our communities. The word "eucharist", Nouwen tells us, originally comes from the Greek for "thanksgiving". And while the ancient source provides one dimension of the Christian experience, Nouwen finds that the wisdom of prior insights no longer suffices in a world changing as rapidly as ours. What we need is to realize the intimate connection between celebrating the Eucharist, and living a "eucharistic life". With Burning Hearts seeks a fuller understanding of Eucharist through the story of the disciples on their way to Emmaus from Jerusalem after the crucifixion (Luke 24: 13-35). They did not know they travelled with the risen Christ until they recognized him suddenly in the breaking of the bread. Marveling, they asked one another, "Did our hearts not burn withing us while he was talking to us...? Their story models the order of the eucharistic celebration: the coming together in our brokeness before God, the hearing of the Word, the profession of faith, the offering of the meal, and the going forth as Jesus bid them, to renew the face of the Earth. Henri Nouwen shows us how the eucharistic event is intensely human, revealing the deepenst of human experience: saddness and loss, attentiveness and invitation, intimacy and engagement. Just as the disciples on the road to Emmaus passed through all these stages so our participation in the Eucharist mirrors each one. Along this five-step journey, the disciples travel, grow, and learn. Their hearts at first are laden with failure and loss, then come to burn with recognition,and finally to burst open with gratitude and new life. This is the "eucharistic" moment: the goal of thanksgiving, of giving thanks to the One who has made us whole. From mourning to discernment, from invitation to intimacy, and finally from community to the charge to go forth and witness: With Burning Hearts calls us to experience all of this journey, to know that what we celebrate and what we are called to live are one and the same....

Henri Nouwen undertakes to talk about Christian leadership and provides a profile in stark contrast to worldly values. His ideal leader is a praying leader, a vulnerable leader, a trusting leader, one who voluntarily chooses a life of downward mobility....

For the countless men and women who have to live through the pain of broken relationships or who suffer from the loss of a loved one, "The Inner Voice of Love" offers new courage, new hope, and even new life....

The last book published before Nouwen's death in 1996, Can You Drink the Cup? has been translated into ten languages and sold more than 135,000 copies. Exploring the deep spiritual impact of the question Jesus asked his friends James and John, Nouwen reflects upon the metaphor of the cup, using the images of holding, lifting, and drinking to articulate the basics of the spiritual life....

Henri Nouwen invites us to reflect on the tension between our desire for solitude and the demands of contemporary life. He reminds us that it was in solitude that Jesus found the courage to follow God’s will. And he shows us that fruitful love and service must spring from a living relationship with God. Beautifully written, elegantly simple, Out of Solitude is as fresh today as it was thirty years ago. "We want to overcome problems and adversities and want to change at all costs. An alternative is to care for ourselves, each other, and our world."—Thomas Moore, from the Foreword...

From one of the world's most beloved authors, a series of reflections on life to help your prayers become a joy -- a spontaneous reaction to the world and the people around you.
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These engaging selections gathered from Henri Nouwen's travel writings offer new insights into the restless soul of a deeply spiritual man.

Whether Nouwen was describing the grim surroundings of post-Soviet Ukraine, mingling with senators in Washington, or meeting cocaine users in a South American prison, each situation tells a revealing story. Editor Michael Ford creates a journey from actual places Nouwen visited from the Ukraine to Bolivia via Europe, Canada, and the United States that depicts Nouwen's world as one of striking contrasts--one minute rubbing shoulders with the affluent, the next walking through lands of poverty. At each destination, we discover a man whose endless search for intimacy and beauty resonates deeply with our own....

In this journal of his travels in Bolivia and Peru, Nouwen ponders the presence of God in the poor, the challenge of a persecuted church, the relation between faith and justice, and his own struggle to discern the path along which God is calling him. "Nouwen puts his inexhaustible curiosity and hunger for religious experience gladly at the service of a worldwide audience."--The Boston Globe....

The author of The Return of the Prodigal Son offers a perceptive, inspirational three-step plan for living a spiritual life and achieving union with God. Reprint....

Noted spiritual writer, Henri J. M. Nouwen, wrote a brief reflection on the death of his mother solely for a small circle of family members and friends, but was persuaded to share it with a larger audience in this published version....