help with the tough questions

Top Quotes:
Jesus—”I am the way”

1. “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (Jesus)
2. “And today, dear young people, I proclaim to you again Jesus Christ: the way, and the truth and the life — your way, your truth and your life.” (Pope John Paul II)
3. “After Calvary, the Cross, embraced with love, becomes the way of life.” (Pope John-Paul II)
4. “Take up your cross — we all have one — to accompany him on his path, an uncomfortable path that is not of success or of fleeting glory, but one which takes us to true freedom.”
5. “God’s way can only be grasped in prayer. The more you listen to God speaking within you, the sooner you will hear that voice inviting you to follow the way of Jesus. For Jesus’ way is God’s way.” (Henri Nouwen)
6. “Forgive generously… and always to respond to their hostility with love. By doing so we make visible a new way of being human.” (Henri Nouwen)
7. “When we share in God’s compassion, a whole new way of living opens itself to us, a way of living we glimpse in the lives of the Apostles and those great Christians who have witnessed for Christ through the centuries.” (Henri Nouwen)
8. “You are probably wondering how, in imitation of Jesus, you are to find that descending way. That’s a very personal and intimate question, and in the end I don’t think anyone can answer it but you…. Each one of us has to seek out his or her own descending way of love. That calls for much prayer, much patience, and much guidance. It has nothing at all to do with spiritual heroics, dramatically throwing everything overboard to ‘follow’ Jesus. The descending way is a way that is concealed in each person’s heart. But because it is so seldom walked on, it’s often overgrown with weeds. Slowly but surely we have to clear the weeds, open the way, and set out on it unafraid.” (Henri Nouwen)
9. “It’s so important to make the Eucharist the heart and centre of your life. It’s there that you receive the love which empowers you to take the way that Jesus has taken before you: a narrow way, a painful way, but the way that gives you true joy and peace.” (Henri Nouwen)
10. “Now look at Jesus, who came to reveal God to us, and you see that popularity in any form is the very thing he avoids.” (Henri Nouwen)
11. “Setting our hearts on something involves not only serious aspiration but also strong determination. A spiritual life requires human effort. The forces that keep pulling us back into a worry-filled life are far from easy to overcome.” (Henri Nouwen)
12. “Prayer is the only real way to clean my heart and to create new space.” (Henri Nouwen)
13. “People seek glory by moving upward. God reveals his glory by moving downward. If we truly want to see the glory of God, we must move downward with Jesus. This is the deepest reason for living in solidarity with poor, oppressed and handicapped people. They are the ones through whom God’s glory can manifest itself to us. They show us the way to God, the way to salvation.” (Henri Nouwen)
14. “What counts is being attentive at all times to the voice of God’s love inviting us to obey, that is, to listen with an attentive heart. How can we keep listening to this voice in a world which does its best to distract us and get our attention for seemingly more urgent matters?… First of all, listen to the Church.” (Henri Nouwen)
15. “The way of Jesus can be walked only with Jesus. If I want to do it alone, it becomes a form of inverse heroism as fickle as heroism itself…. He warns us about striking off on our own: “Cut off from me, you can do nothing.” But he also promises, “Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty.”” (Henri Nouwen)
16. “Life itself is a pilgrimage, and the human being is a pilgrim travelling along the road, making his way to the desired destination.” (Pope Francis)

Jesus—”I am the way”
(Full Quotes, and Source)

“I am the way and the truth and the life.”

— Jesus (John 14:6)

“And today, dear young people, I proclaim to you again Jesus Christ: the way, and the truth and the life – your way, your truth and your life.”

— Pope John Paul II (meeting with youth, New Orleans, 1987)

“After Calvary, the Cross, embraced with love, becomes the way of life. It teaches each one of us that if we know how to travel with abandoned trust the exhausting, uphill road of human suffering, the joy of the Living Christ which surpasses every desire and every expectation will blossom for us and for our brothers and sisters.”

— Pope John-Paul II, at the end of his “Message to the participants in the International Symposium on The Dignity and Rights of the Mentally Disabled Person” dated 5 January 2004 (Symposium was on the 8th)

“To undertake the discipleship of Jesus means to take up your cross — we all have one — to accompany him on his path, an uncomfortable path that is not of success or of fleeting glory, but one which takes us to true freedom, to that which frees us from selfishness and sin. It is necessary to clearly reject that worldly mentality which places one’s “I” and one’s own interests at the centre of existence. That is not what Jesus wants from us! Instead Jesus invites us to lose our life for him and for the Gospel, to receive it renewed, fulfilled and authentic. We are certain, thanks to Jesus, that this path leads us to the resurrection, to the full and definitive life with God.”

— Pope Francis in his Angelus Address of September 13th, 2015 in Saint Peter’s Square as reported by the Vatican

The Way: The following quotes with bullet points come from Henri Nouwen in a collection of his brilliant writings entitled ‘Show Me The Way’

• (Henri Nouwen praying to Jesus)… “The choice for your way has to be made every moment of my life. I have to choose thoughts that are your thoughts, words that are your words, and actions that are your actions. There are no times or places without choices. And I know how deeply I resist choosing you.” (page 1)
• Trusting in the unconditional love of God: that is the way to which Jesus calls us. (page 2)
• We don’t mind paying attention to poor people from time to time; but descending to a state of poverty and becoming poor with the poor, that we don’t want to do. And yet that is the way Jesus chose as the way to know God…. God’s way can only be grasped in prayer. The more you listen to God speaking within you, the sooner you will hear that voice inviting you to follow the way of Jesus. For Jesus’ way is God’s way and God’s way is not for Jesus only but for everyone who is truly seeking God. (page 5)
• “Being in the world without being of the world.” These words summarize well the way Jesus speaks of the spiritual life. It is a life in which we are totally transformed by the Spirit of love…. The spiritual life can be lived in as many ways as there are people…. What is new is that we are set free from the compulsions of our world and have set our hearts on the only necessary thing. What is new is that we no longer experience the many things, people and events as endless causes for worry, but begin to experience them as the rich variety of ways in which God makes his presence known to us. (page 9)
• We feel that our attention should be divided evenly between God and our neighbour. But Jesus’ claim is much more radical. He asks for a single-minded commitment to God and God alone. God wants all of our heart, all of our mind, and all of our soul. It is this unconditional and unreserved love for God that leads to the care for our neighbour, not as an activity which distracts us from God or competes with our attention to God, but as an expression of our love for God who reveals himself to us as the God of all people. (page 10)
• Although experiences of hatred are different from experiences of love, and although a desire for power is different from a desire to serve, they are all the same insofar as they identify MY existence as what REALLY counts. However, as soon as I say ‘God exists,’ my existence no longer can remain in the centre, because the essence of the knowledge of God reveals my own existence as deriving its total being from his. (page 20)
• The converted person does not say that nothing matters any more. The converted person says: “… nothing can be unimportant.” The converted person sees, hears and understands with a divine eye, a divine ear, a divine heart. (page 20)
• When we know that God loves us deeply and will always go on loving us, whoever we are and whatever we do, it becomes possible… forgive generously… and always to respond to their hostility with love. By doing so we make visible a new way of being human and a new way of responding to our world problems. (page 25)
• The Incarnation… Paul puts it into his Letter to the Philippians in order to commend to his people the descending direction on the ladder of life. He writes: “Make your own mind of Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped. But he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming as human beings are; and being in every way like a human being, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. (Phil. 2:5-8).” Here, expressed in summary but very plain terms, is the way of God’s love. (page 30)
• When we share in God’s compassion, a whole new way of living opens itself to us, a way of living we glimpse in the lives of the Apostles and those great Christians who have witnessed for Christ through the centuries…. It is the expression of a new way of living in which interpersonal comparisons, rivalries and competitions are gradually left behind. (page 33)
• Jesus invites us to follow him on his humbling way: “The one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). “Anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will lose it” (Mark 8:35). “The one who makes himself as little as this little child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 18:4). “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). “How happy are the poor in spirit… those who mourn… those who hunger… who are persecuted” (Matt 5:3-10). “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44). This is the way of Jesus and the way to which he calls his disciples. (page 35)
• Jesus presents to us the great mystery of the descending way. It is the way of suffering, but also the way to healing. It is the way of humiliation, but also the way to the resurrection. It is the way of tears, but of tears that turn into tears of joy….
  You are probably wondering how, in imitation of Jesus, you are to find that descending way. That’s a very personal and intimate question, and in the end I don’t think anyone can answer it but you. It’s not simply a matter of renouncing your money, your possessions, your intellectual formation, or your friends or family. For some people it has indeed meant this, but only because they felt personally called to take that road. Each one of us has to seek out his or her own descending way of love. That calls for much prayer, much patience, and much guidance. It has nothing at all to do with spiritual heroics, dramatically throwing everything overboard to ‘follow’ Jesus. The descending way is a way that is concealed in each person’s heart. But because it is so seldom walked on, it’s often overgrown with weeds. Slowly but surely we have to clear the weeds, open the way, and set out on it unafraid. (page 36)
• The joy of those who follow their Lord on his self-emptying and humbling way shows that what they seek is not misery and pain but the God whose compassion they have felt in their own lives: their eyes do not focus on poverty and misery, but on the face of the loving. (page 40)
• It is this, the enemy-loving love of God, that is offered to us in the Eucharist. To forgive our enemies doesn’t lie within our power. That is a divine gift. That’s why it’s so important to make the Eucharist the heart and centre of your life. It’s there that you receive the love which empowers you to take the way that Jesus has taken before you: a narrow way, a painful way, but the way that gives you true joy and peace and enables you to make the non-violent love of God visible in this world. (page 51)
• Now look at Jesus, who came to reveal God to us, and you see that popularity in any form is the very thing he avoids. He is constantly pointing out that God reveals himself in secrecy. It sounds very paradoxical, but accepting and, I would venture to say, entering into that paradox sets you on the road of the spiritual life. (page 54)
• Jesus tells us to set our hearts on the kingdom (of love). Setting our hearts on something involves not only serious aspiration but also strong determination. A spiritual life requires human effort. The forces that keep pulling us back into a worry-filled life are far from easy to overcome. (page 62)
• To live a spiritual life is to live in the presence of God. (page 65)
• What matters is to live attentively to the Spirit and to go obediently where we are being led, whether to a joyful or a painful place.
  Poverty, pain, struggle, anguish, agony and even inner darkness may continue to be part of our experience. They may even be God’s way of purifying us. But life is no longer boring, resentful, depressing or lonely, because we have come to know that everything that happens is part of our way to the house of the Father. (page 68)
• Prayer is the only real way to clean my heart and to create new space. (page 76)
• Thus the glory of God stands in contrast to the glory of people. People seek glory by moving upward. God reveals his glory by moving downward. If we truly want to see the glory of God, we must move downward with Jesus. This is the deepest reason for living in solidarity with poor, oppressed and handicapped people. They are the ones through whom God’s glory can manifest itself to us. They show us the way to God, the way to salvation. (page 82)
• Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, spoke not to attract attention to himself but to show the way to his Father. (page 94)
• What counts is being attentive at all times to the voice of God’s love inviting us to obey, that is, to listen with an attentive heart.
  How can we keep listening to this voice in a world which does its best to distract us and get our attention for seemingly more urgent matters?…
  First of all, listen to the Church. I know that isn’t a popular bit of advice at a time and in a country where the Church is frequently seen more as an ‘obstacle’ in the way rather than as the ‘way’ to Jesus…. Specifically, this means taking part in the Church’s liturgical life…. The best assurance that you’ll keep listening to the Church is your regular participation in the Eucharist. (page 101)
• The way of Jesus can be walked only with Jesus. If I want to do it alone, it becomes a form of inverse heroism as fickle as heroism itself. Only Jesus, the Son of God, can walk to that place of total surrender and mercy. He warns us about striking off on our own: “Cut off from me, you can do nothing.” But he also promises, “Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty” (John 15:5).
  I now see clearly why action without prayer is so fruitless. It is only in and through prayer that we can become intimately connected with Jesus and find the strength to join him on his way. (page 111)
• Precisely when we live in an ongoing conversation with Christ and allow his Spirit to guide our lives, we will recognise him in the poor, the oppressed, and the downtrodden, and will hear his cry and respond to it wherever he reveals himself.
  So worship becomes ministry and ministry becomes worship, and all we say or do, ask for or give, becomes a way to the life in which God’s compassion can manifest itself. (page 111)

— Henri JM Nouwen, (2005). Show Me The Way: Readings for Each Day of Lent. London, England: Darton, Longman, Todd. (First published in USA in 1992).

“The practice of pilgrimage has a special place in the Holy Year, because it represents the journey each of us makes in this life. Life itself is a pilgrimage, and the human being is a viator, a pilgrim travelling along the road, making his way to the desired destination.”

— Pope Francis in his Bull of Indiction ‘Misericordiae Vultus’ 11 April 2015 announcing the upcoming Year of Mercy,