In this work, Jean Vanier addresses love and sexuality at a profound level. What is the meaning of life for a handicapped person? To what fruitfulness might they be called? How do we accompany and support them, whether in celibacy or marriage? Vanier offers no easy answers. Instead, he insists on the importance of genuine education—often forged through suffering—that leads to liberation, peace, and inner unity. His authority comes from two decades of daily life with mentally handicapped adults and from founding 67 communities of the Arche around the world. He speaks as a Christian, seeing no divide between the Gospel and the cries of human longing.
Readers will grasp the book's content and spirit from these chapter titles:
The Wounded Heart
Education and Demand
The Relationship of Man and Woman
A Place for the Heart
Community as the Space for Integrating Sexuality
Celibacy Lived in Community
Unity in Marriage
Fruitfulness and Welcoming Death
Celebrating Unity