We recommend two essential books by Jean Vanier this time—works of fundamental importance for our personal and communal growth. Unfortunately they are not published in Italian, but everyone who can should make the effort to read them and perhaps—why not?—share their key insights with those closest to them. You can find these books at major Catholic bookstores and certainly in Rome at the San Paolo bookstore on Via della Conciliazione; a copy is also available to consult at the Fede e Luce office.
La communauté lieu du pardon et de la fête
Ed. Fleurus - Paris - approximately 8000 lire
Listen to what Jean Vanier himself has to say: "Being close to many people drawn to community, to new ways of living, I realize how much ignorance exists about communal life. Many believe that it is enough to put several people under the same roof who get along reasonably well and feel drawn to the same ideal for community to exist. The result is sometimes disastrous! Communal life is not made simply of spontaneity and rules. There are precise conditions, necessary conditions, for this communal life to develop and mature through crises, tensions, and 'privileged moments.' If these conditions are not present, every kind of deviation is possible—one that will gradually lead to the death of the community or its spiritual death: the 'enslavement' of its members.
"These pages aim to explain clearly the conditions necessary for life in community. They are not a thesis or a treatise but paths of reflection that I have discovered not in books but in daily life, through my mistakes, my failures, through God's inspiration and that of my brothers, through moments of unity among us and also through tensions and suffering. Communal life is an adventure that is, fundamentally, one of inner liberation: freedom to love and to be loved."
Ne crains pas
Ed. Fleurus - Paris, 4000 lire
Be not afraid
Ed. Griffin House - Toronto
"Our universe is a wounded universe, divided, suffering, a universe full of despair and great poverty, full of signs of death, division, and hatred. But all these signs of death are taken up by Jesus on the Cross and transfigured in the Resurrection. Our hope is that the winter of humanity will gradually be transformed into a fountain of love, because this is what we are called to.
We will pass from the winter of suffering to the Kingdom of God and to a new birth. We can begin even now, insofar as the Spirit penetrates our hearts, brings peace to our bitterness, and restores hope to us. We see this light, which is only a small sign of what we will be called to live in eternal marriage.
For now we must walk the roads of life. We are pilgrims journeying toward the Kingdom and the promised land, with our brothers and sisters, our wounds, the wounds of humanity."
A passage from this book struck Lorenzo (Kapanda) particularly, and he drew from it the following reflection:
Love in practice and the practice of love.
"To love," says Jean Vanier, "is to live in the other and to carry them within yourself. Love is unity of feeling and thought. To love is to dwell, to remain together. The one who loves wants to dwell in the one they love and to carry them in their heart."
This thought reveals Jean Vanier's life and can be a source of inspiration for all of us. We know that Jean not only loves handicapped people but lives with them, carries them in his own heart, acts by giving them hope and joy. Love is not enough without action, but we can only act in love. One calls for the other, especially when dealing with people who expect everything from others. Action in this field demands courage and hope, and it also requires a particular gaze toward these very sensitive people—a gaze that softens the heart, an affectionate gaze that breaks down resistance and hesitation, a loving gaze. Only with a gaze of love can we grasp deeply what we owe our brothers and sisters whom the world calls unfortunate and Jesus proclaims blessed. Are we on Jesus's side? Then, like Jesus, let us love them for their joy and their growth and to free ourselves from the structures that, like armor, keep us prisoners!