On a daily basis, in the early morning hours ... I receive an email message inspired, and collected, from the words and wisdom of Henri Nouwen.  "A Daily Meditation".  "A Spiritual Reflection".  A signpost ...... steering me — steering us — on the Way to God.

How do we know about God's love, God's generosity, God's kindness, God's forgiveness?  Through our parents, our friends, our teachers, our pastors, [our rabbis, our imams], our spouses, our children …. they all reveal God to us.  But as we come to know them, we realise that each of them can reveal only a little bit of God.  God's love is greater than theirs;  God's  goodness is greater than theirs;  God's beauty is greater than theirs.  At first we may be disappointed in these people in our lives.  For a while we thought that they would be able to give us all the love, goodness, and beauty we needed.  But gradually we discover that they were all signposts on the way to God."  

                                                                                                                  - Henri J. M. Nouwen

Henri Nouwen understands, as well as any author or spiritual leader that I've encountered, the active, burning, all-consuming presence of God in the hearts, and lives, of compassionate … caring people.  Not necessarily (just) the people within one family, one community, or even one religion - but rather, all those that share a thirst for the Divine, and a hunger for the Eternal.