The only necessary thing - pt. 1

I think I'm going to begin reading 'The Only Necessary Thing: Living A Prayerful Life'. It is a collection of writings on prayer from Henri Nouwen, compiled and edited by Wendy Wilson Greer. I loved Henri's books and the few times I heard him preach; and it seems like the thing to do now.

I began today by reading the front and back cover, and everything up to chapter 1. Already there are some great quotes by Henri in the forward and introduction. The highlights...

• p. 12 - "We are called to convert our loneliness into solitude. We are called to experience our aloneness not as a wound but as a gift - as God's gift - so that in our aloneness we might discover how deeply we are loved by God."

• p. 13 - "Jesus walks with us and speaks to us on the road. When we listen carefully we discover that we are already home while on the way."
  

• p. 25 - "The word 'prayer' stands for a radical interruption of the vicious chain of interlocking dependencies leading to violence and war and for an entering into a totally new dwelling place. It points to a new way of speaking, a new way of breathing, a new way of being together, a new way of knowing, yes, a whole new way of living."

• p. 25 - "...when I speak about prayer as the basis for peacemaking, I speak first of all about moving away from the dwelling place of those who hate peace into the house of God.... Prayer is the center of the Christian life. It is the only necessary thing (Luke 10:42). It is living with God here and now."