Life is a succession of crises and moments when we have to rediscover who we are and what we really want. Jean Vanier More Quotes by Jean Vanier More Quotes From Jean Vanier We who are rich are often demanding and difficult. We shut ourselves up in our apartments and may even use a watchdog to defend our property. Poor people, of course, have nothing to defend and often share the little they have. When people have all the material things they need, they seem not to need each other. They are self-sufficient. There is no interdependence. There is no love. Jean Vanier self people needs A community which refuses to welcome - whether through fear, weariness, insecurity, a desire to cling to comfort, or just because it is fed up with visitors - is dying spiritually. Jean Vanier insecurity community dying Prayer is like a secret garden made up of silence and rest and inwardness. But there are a thousand and one doors into this garden and we all have to find our own. Jean Vanier garden prayer doors ...Individualistic material progress and the desire to gain prestige by coming out on top have taken over from the sense of fellowship, compassion and community. Now people live more or less on their own in a small house, jealously guarding their goods and planning to acquire more, with a notice on the gate that says, 'Beware of the Dog. Jean Vanier compassion taken dog It is only when we stand up, with all our failings and sufferings, and try to support others rather than withdraw into ourselves, that we can fully live the life of community. Jean Vanier live-life support community People may come to our communities because they want to serve the poor; they will only stay once they have discovered that they themselves are poor. Jean Vanier community may people Wisdom is something that comes, little by little, through a lot of listening. Jean Vanier listening littles 'Going home' is a journey to the heart of who we are, a place where we can be ourselves and welcome the reality of our beauty and our pain. From this acceptance of ourselves, we can accept others as they are and we can see our common humanity. Jean Vanier pain home heart People are longing to rediscover true community. We have had enough of loneliness, independence and competition. Jean Vanier community loneliness people In any case, community is not about perfect people. It is about people who are bonded to each other, each of whom is a mixture of good and bad, darkness and light, love and hate. Jean Vanier hate light people Each person with his or her history of being accepted or rejected, with his or her past history of inner pain and difficulties in relationships, is different. But in each one there is a yearning for communion and belonging, but at the same time a fear of it. Love is what we most want, yet it is what we fear the most. Jean Vanier pain love-is past Community is a sign that love is possible in a materialistic world where people so often either ignore or fight each other. It is a sign that we don't need a lot of money to be happy--in fact, the opposite. Jean Vanier fighting opposites love-is The person in misery does not need a look that judges and criticizes but a comforting presence that brings peace and hope and life and says: 'you are a human person: important, mysterious, infinitely precious, what you have to say is important because it flows from a humn person; in you there are those seeds of the infinite, those germs of love... of beauty which must rise from the earth of your misery so humanity be fulfilled. If you do not rise then something will be missing... Rise again because we all need you... be loved beloved.' Jean Vanier judging missing comforting When we love and respect people, revealing to them their value, they can begin to come out from behind the walls that protect them. Jean Vanier love-and-respect wall people A Christian community should do as Jesus did: propose and not impose. Its attraction must lie in the radiance cast by the love of brothers. Jean Vanier brother christian jesus The response to war is to live like brothers and sisters. The response to injustice is to share. The response to despair is a limitless trust and hope. The response to prejudice and hatred is forgiveness. To work for community is to work for humanity. To work for peace is to work for a true political solution; it is to work for the Kingdom of God. It is to work to enable every one to live and taste the secret joys of the human person united to the eternal. Jean Vanier community brother war A community is only a community when the majority of its members are making the transition from 'the community for myself' to 'myself for the community'. Jean Vanier majority transition community Every human activity can be put at the service of the divine and of love. We should all exercise our gift to build community. Jean Vanier community divine exercise When we start helping the weak and the poor to rise everyone will begin to change. Those who have power and riches will start to become more humble, and those who are rising up will leave behind their need to be victims, their need to be angry or depressed....This is the spirituality of life, that helps people to rise up and take their place. It is not a spirituality of death. Jesus wants those who have been crushed to rise up and those who have power to discover that there is another road, a road of sharing and compassion. Jean Vanier compassion humble jesus Community means caring: caring for people. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says: "He who loves community destroys community; he who loves the brethren builds community." A community is not an abstract ideal. Jean Vanier caring mean people
