Among the many inspirational writings of Henri Nouwen is a book he called Lifesigns. And so from the instructions for living given there, I will share some quotes.
(Because I know of his extensive study of the Bible, it is clear that he was familiar enough with the Greek translation, that he knew where ‘agape’ was translated into English as ‘love.’ For example when he quotes about ‘perfect love’ from the Gospel of John, he would have known that in Greek, the word was ‘agape.’ So when he said, “When St. John says that fear is driven out by perfect love, he points to a love that comes from God, a divine love,” I can change those uses of ‘love’ to ‘agape.’ From here on, I change ‘love’ to ‘agape’ and ‘the house of God’s love’ is changed to ‘the house of agape.’)
The perfect love that drives out fear is divine agape.
The home, the intimate place, the place of true belonging, is therefore not a place made by human hands. It is fashioned for us by God’s love {in other words, agape}.
God so much desired to fulfill our deepest yearning for a home that God decided to build a home in us. Thus we can remain fully human and still have our home in God.
The house of agape is the place where we can think, speak, and act in the way of God — not in the way of a fear-filled world.
When we are no longer dominated by fear and have experienced the agape of God, we no longer need to know from moment to moment what is going to happen. We can trust that good things will happen if we remain rooted in that agape.
The tragedy is that we are so possessed by fear that we do not trust our innermost self as an intimate place, but anxiously wander around hoping to find it where we are not. Thus we become strangers to ourselves, people who have an address but are never home and hence can never be addressed by the true voice of agape.
When we grasp the truth that we already have a home, we may at last have the strength to unmask the illusions created by our fears and continue to return again and again and again.
Wherever we see people overcoming their fears and approaching each other in mutual vulnerability, we catch a glimpse of agape in the house of God and taste the fruit of that agape.
The more we touch the intimate agape of God which creates, sustains, and guides us, the more we recognize the multitude of fruits that come forth from that agape. They are fruits of the Spirit, such as: joy, peace, kindness, goodness, and gentleness. When we encounter any of these fruits, we always experience them as gifts.
Gratitude flows from the recognition that all that is, is a divine gift born out of agape and freely given to us so that we may offer thanks and share it with others.
We need new eyes to see and new ears to hear the truth of our unity. A heart filled with agape can perceive the unity of humanity. This requires divine perception. God wants to open our eyes so that we can see that we belong together in the embrace of God’s agape.
The intimacy of the house of agape always leads to solidarity with the weak. The closer we come to the heart of the One who has agape for us, the closer we come to each other in the solidarity of a redeemed humanity.
The same God who cares for everyone without exception, has agape for each individual with an exceptional love.
The deeper our prayer becomes, the closer we come to this mystery of God’s agape.
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