“In the lonely place Jesus finds the courage to follow God’s will and not his own; to speak God’s words and not his own; to do God’s work and not his own…

“It is in the lonely place, where Jesus enters into intimacy with the Father, that his ministry is born…

“Somewhere we know that without a lonely place, our lives are in danger. Somewhere we know that without silence, words lose their meaning, that without listening, speaking no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cure. Somewhere we know that without a lonely place out actions become empty gestures…

“A life without a lonely place, that is, a life without a quiet center, easily becomes destructive.”

—Henri J M. Nouwen (Out of Solitude, pp. 17-18, 25)