At Arche communities, people work, pray, and live together with great simplicity, sharing both joy and suffering as brothers and sisters.
These are communities that hope to grow together—both as human beings and in their spiritual lives.
Recently, the Forestière opened its doors—a small residential home named for its location near the forest of Compiègne.
Nine profoundly disabled young people live here, along with nine assistants who sometimes wonder who is actually helping whom.
The spirit that animates life at the Forestière ensures the home is truly a place of joy, simplicity, and welcome in the deepest sense of the word.
It is nearly impossible to put into words the gestures, the attentiveness, the glances one witnesses here—they run so deep that silence and gratitude are the only fitting response. I can only say that I encountered, and tried to live out, the obedience of the smallest among us. It was not always easy.
I learned that the path at the Forestière is to live fully alongside the poorest and to sit at their feet, learning from the deepest part of who they are.
This is not theory. It is a life they are living there, and a life we must live here.
It is not a dream. It is a reality that dwells within each of us and will soon be realized. I think what matters most is remembering that Jesus became poor among the poor—you need only look at where he was born, at what he did.
To describe what I experienced: I lived encounter—encounter between the people in the home, with no hierarchy; the discovery of each person's gifts and capacity to grow; the hope that everyone carries within them when they believe in the possibility of growth; and trust in the other, in the sense of demanding that they grow, of believing in them. All of this is done with true love. The young people come to meet us because of it. You cannot fake anything before them or wear a mask, because in the vulnerable one is the presence of Jesus. And in the helpers—I am certain—there is always the desire to encounter Him.
The Forestière exists because love exists, because the presence of Jesus exists. Only His presence can create unity and communion.
And He is present in those most afflicted and abandoned—the ones the world refuses because they seem useless. The world does not know that they are the ones holding everything together. The world has a scale of values—and we often carry it within us—that is badly skewed.
These young people see Christ very clearly, and Christ passes His life through their eyes. I experience this personally when I am with Clelia, Sabina, Chicca, Vincenzo—and there are so many more. Christ passes through their hands, their often broken and suffering bodies. And Christ wants to pass through our hands, our eyes, our hearts, even when they are full of pride, fear, and selfishness—yet the smallest ones need all of us to survive.
It is beautiful to let yourself fall into His arms, as they do. How often have we held someone and noticed how they surrender completely—to be carried, washed, fed—all in silence, all without words. This is not sentiment. It is something real that many of us have experienced.
What matters is giving Him complete trust, as they give it to us. When have we ever met one of these young people who withheld their trust? And how often do we meet people with big heads who will not give us a shred of trust?
It is beautiful to open our hearts and live with joy, without so much fear—because we must believe that everything exists only because He is there, because He lives among us even when we turn away. Everything is possible only because He is with us.
Guenda Malvezzi, 1978
