We present this book with deep gratitude: to Jean Vanier, who gave it life; to Manuela Bartesaghi, who transcribed his words; to Edizioni Dehoniane in Bologna, who brought it into print.
In his retreats, Jean Vanier reveals a distinctive presence and speaks to us with rare intimacy. You find yourself knowing him more fully, sensing his encouragement, his gift for illuminating a path where he walks beside you as friend and guide. His message reaches straight to the heart. The Gospel becomes real again—concrete, healing, teaching us love. These are not mere words, but lived truth. What he speaks of, Jean Vanier has lived firsthand on the road he has walked with disabled people, within the communities of L'Arche and Faith and Light, and of which he bears witness.
Perhaps this is why the book possesses such a gift for speaking to the practical. The insights each of us can begin to live immediately are so plentiful, so inviting in their very difficulty, that we can do nothing but act on them. His message is ancient and ever new; it challenges us afresh, restores trust, brings peace. Joy does not fill every hour of our lives, but inner peace can. Jean Vanier says it simply: "You know what happens? God does not fix things, but he gives us the strength to fix them."
Jean Vanier conveys such a vivid understanding of God's love for us, his tenderness toward our fragility, the possibility of reconciliation—with him, with one another—that peace becomes real and reachable. "It is beautiful to discover that you are loved by God, and at the same time it is also a little difficult. I invite you to take time in these days to discover that a retreat can be a very beautiful moment in which you discover that you are loved by God, a moment in which I can re-read my story to discover how God is in my life, how God guides me, and that the only thing I can do is to surrender myself to him. But a retreat can also contain more painful elements; perhaps I will come to see all my blocks, my fears—especially my fears of God—blocks and fears that I do not quite know how to handle because they come from my upbringing, from the difficulties I have lived through. So a retreat can be somewhat difficult: what matters is to welcome what God wants to give us."
A retreat with Jean Vanier opens our eyes and our hearts anew. How easily they close—worn down by habit, daily struggle, emotion, stress that obscures our understanding. "How do we keep alive this hope that lives in us and shines through our vulnerability? I would say that my prayer, from this place, is that each of you might come to believe in yourself... believe in your own heart, believe in the deepest intentions of your heart, because deep within us there is a thirst to love, to create, to be reconciled."