You are the Beloved

''We are the Beloved. We are intimately loved long before our parents, teachers, spouses, children and friends loved or wounded us. That''s the truth of our lives. That''s the truth I want you to claim for yourself. That''s the truth spoken by the voice that says, "You are my Beloved."'' - Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved

Henri Nouwen, priest, professor and writer, devoted much of his later ministry to emphasising the singular concept of our identity as the Beloved of God. In an interview, he said that he believed the central moment in Jesus'' public ministry to be his baptism in the Jordan, when Jesus heard the affirmation, ''You are my beloved son on whom my favour rests.'' ''That is the core experience of Jesus,'' Nouwen writes. ''He is reminded in a deep, deep way of who he is ... I think his whole life is continually claiming that identity in the midst of everything.''

You Are Beloved is a daily devotional created from the very best of Nouwen