Thursday, 16 March 2017 "Communities in Danger"
The time when a community feels it may die is not the time to change externals, like the rules or identifiers. If it does this, there is nothing left to hold people together. This is the time for inner renewal, for a renewed trust in personal relationships; it is a time to stay close to the poor and those in distress. When the inner life is strong and when love is truly the guiding spirit, then we can reduce the externals but not before.[Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, page 118]
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Jean Vanier - Daily Thought - Wednesday 15 March 2017 "Community is not for Itself" from L'Arche Canada
A community gradually discovers, as it grows, that it is not there simply for itself. It belongs to humanity. It has received a gift which must bear fruit for all people. If it closes in on itself, it will suffocate.[Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, page 116]
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Jean Vanier - Daily Thought - Tuesday, 14 March 2017 "Community Integration" with L'Arche Canada
The more a community deepens and grows, the more integrated it must be in the neighbourhood. When it begins, the community is integrated within the four walls of its house. But gradually it opens up to neighbours and friends. Some communities begin to panic when they feel that their neighbours are becoming committed to them; they are frightened of losing their identity, of losing control. But there are times to knock down the walls of a community. This is how a small community can gradually become the yeast in the dough, a place of unity for all and between all.[Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, page 116]
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Jean Vanier - Daily Thought - Saturday, 11 March 2017 "An Undefined Power" with L'Arche Canada
A poor person has a mysterious power: in his weakness he is able to open hardened hearts and reveal the sources of living waters within them. It is the tiny hand of the fearless child which can slip through the bars of the prison of egoism. He is the one who can open the lock and set free. And God hides himself in the child.[Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, page 96]
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