WRITEON FOR MAY 15
sister alies.
Sometimes our lives are blessed with meeting or being near special persons. One of the things that makes someone special is that they reveal to us something of the truth about ourselves, maybe our inner beauty, some gift, or even our struggles to live an authentic life.
On Wednesday, May 8, Jean Vanier, died. He was 90 years old and for the last 50 or so years devoted himself to the handicapped, disabled, and those with intellectual disabilities all around the world. Often people with various handicaps are not welcome in their own homes, the parents feeling it is their fault or not having the proper support to raise a special needs child.
Jean was a young naval officer who left the Canadian navy to 'follow Jesus'. He then did academic work and was a college professor. And then one summer he went to a small village in France and studied with a Dominican priest and a few other fellows like himself. They spent the summer visiting the local 'asylums' and God spoke deeply to his heart. He went out and bought a small cottage and invited the first two men into his home. Neither spoke and both had severe disabilities. Jean had never been 'trained' how to 'help the handicapped'. He just felt called to live with them. l'Arche was founded in 1964 and now there are over 154 communities in 39 countries where folks with a variety of disabilities are welcomed for life, living with those whose handicaps (don't we all have them?) are less visible or debilitating. Some assistants (who come as sort of 'midwives' to help others grow to maturity) will live with core members for a year or two...some much longer. Folks living in l'Arche communities are welcomed into a rich life of relationships, the very thing Jean writes (in his over 30 books) are at the heart of our deepest need. This includes a deep faith life for those who wish and though he is Catholic, communities are made up of folks from every culture and religion.
Probably his best international bestseller is BECOMING HUMAN, Paulist Press, 1998. The book is actually the CBC Radio Series, Ideas,5 talks he gave for the Massey Lectures commissioned by Massey College of the University of Toronto.
The first of Jean's seven aspects of love is : reveal. “To reveal someone's beauty is to reveal their value by giving them time, attention, and tenderness. To love is not just to do something for them but to reveal to them their own uniqueness, to tell them that they are special and worthy of attention...this revelation heals...the belief in the inner beauty of each and every human being is at the heart of l'Arche...as so as we start selecting and judging people instead of welcoming them as they are—with their sometimes hidden beauty, as well as their more frequently visible weaknesses—we are reducing life, not fostering it. When we reveal to people our belief in them, their hidden beauty rises to the surface where it may be more clearly seen by all.”(Pg23) Jean, rest in peace.
BLESSINGS.
