HENRI NOUWEN SAYS…

Jesus tells us — “For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:37). With this in mind we now let the words of universalist Roman Catholic priest Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) speak for themselves.

Nouwen is so often quoted concerning so-called Spiritual Formation rooted in apostate Roman Catholicism and revered teacher of Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism, speak for themselves as to its poison fruit:

Prayer [means: Contemplative/Centering Prayer] is the bridge between our conscious and unconscious lives… To pray [means: Meditation] is to connect these two sides of our lives by going to the place where God dwells. Prayer is “soul work” because our souls are those sacred centers where all is one and where God is with us…
(Bread for the Journey, January 15)

It is often in our absence that the Spirit of God manifests itself… When we claim for ourselves that we come to our friends in the Name of Jesus—that through us Jesus becomes present to them—we can trust that our leaving will also bring them the Spirit of Jesus.
(Bread for the Journey, March 14)

Solitude, silence, and prayer are often the best ways to self-knowledge…because they bring us in touch with our sacred center, where God dwells. That sacred center may not be analyzed. It is the place of adoration, thanksgiving, and praise.
(Bread for the Journey, March 22)

Today I personally believe that Jesus came to open the door to God’s house, all human beings can walk through that door, whether they know about Jesus or not. Today I see it as my call to help every person claim his or her way to God. (Sabbatical Journey, 51)

Still, when we remain faithful to our discipline [of Contemplative/Centering Prayer], even if it is only ten minutes a day, we gradually come to see — by the candlelight of our prayers — that there is a space within us where God dwells and where we are invited to dwell with God…

One of the discoveries we make in [meditative] prayer is that the closer we come to God, the closer we come to all our brothers and sisters in the human family. God is not a private God. The God who dwells in our inner sanctuary is also the God who dwells in the inner sanctuary of each human being. (Henri Nouwen, Here and Now, 24, 25)

See also:

ORIGIN OF CONTEMPLATIVE/CENTERING PRAYER

UNDERSTANDING THE NEW SPIRITUALITY: GOD INDWELLS MANKIND

SPIRITUAL FORMATION IS PIETISM REIMAGINED

SPIRITUAL FORMATION: JUST SAY NO