Henri Nouwen Society - Daily Meditation
Monday November 17, 2014

Ministry and the Spiritual Life

All Jesus' words and actions emerge from his intimate relationships with his Father.  "Do you not believe," Jesus says, "that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?  What I say to you I do not speak of my own accord:  it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his works.  You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe it on the evidence of these works" (John 14:10-11).

Just as all Jesus' words and actions emerge from his communion with his Father, so all our words and actions must emerge from our communion with Jesus.  "In all truth I tell you," he says, "whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, and will perform even greater works. ... Whatever you ask for in my name I will do" (John 14:12-13).  It is this profound truth that reveals the relationship between the spiritual life and the life of ministry.

- Henri J. M. Nouwen  
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Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, �1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible �1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.