A life without a lonely place to pray (Henri Nouwen)

   To live a Christian life means to live IN the world without being OF it. It is in solitude that this inner freedom can grow. Jesus went to a lonely place to pray, that is, to grow in the awareness that all the power he had was given to him; that all the words he spoke came from his Father; and that all the works he did were not really his but the works of the One who had sent him. In the lonely place Jesus was made free to fail.

   A life without a lonely place, that is, a life without a quiet center, easily becomes destructive. When we cling to the results of actions as our only way of self-identification, then we become possessive and defensive and tend to look at our fellow human beings more as enemies to be kept at a distance that as friends with whom we share the gifts of life.

--Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude

Image source: Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Savior (ca. 1900-1905), oil on canvas mounted to plywood, https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/savior-23678