Jean Vanier Thoughts

We Live in Turmoil

Our world is in turmoil; people are tense, worried and insecure. They tend to fall into a state of human, cultural, intellectual and spiritual poverty. Many people are overwhelmed by images and information. Out of necessity, they are living on a superficial level. Most have neither the time nor the desire to discover a road, possibly a new road, to peace and true human fulfillment. They are completely caught up in the demands of daily living, the need to find work and to earn more money.
- Jean Vanier, Our Journey Home, p. 171
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SThe Freeing Effect of Laws

We can crush and kill people in the name of law or we can let people destroy themselves and others through the absence of law. There are laws inscribed in nature, which every doctor and psychologist knows well. There are also the laws of society. Law is, or should be, there to help people, every person, to journey to a fullness of life and to be truly free; free from prejudice and fear, free from a paralyzing selfishness, free to love and be compassionate, free to struggle for justice.
- Jean Vanier, Our Journey Home, p. 171
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The Jungle--Effect of Denying Morality

If we deny morality, then that is the end of all true education, of respect for every person no matter who they are. It opens the door to all kinds of injustice. The world becomes a jungle in which we each defend ourselves as best we can.
- Jean Vanier, Our Journey Home, p. 170

Rules or the Defense of Rights?

A medical professor admitted in the newspapers that, while he was practicing as a doctor, he used to kill premature babies with disabilities. I wrote to him protesting in the name of life. "You are certain about these things," he replied. "I am still searching. You claim to know the truth; I would not dare claim that." What he was really saying to me was, "Your certitudes show you are a fascist. You want to impose rules on others." But is morality not first and foremost the defense of the rights of people, and above all of those who are weakest, of their right to life, to a home, to an education, to care and love? Is it not the way to wholeness and true happiness for each person, a way to bring them to inner freedom?
- Jean Vanier, Our Journey Home, p. 170

Where Human Growth is Realized

Human growth involves acquiring certain things, but it is realized above all in service, in solidarity and in giving. It is a school of giving. We learn how to give, to give our hearts. And the final gift, in which everything is accomplished, is the gift of our heart as we welcome the God of gifts, who in turn welcomes us into his arms.
- Jean Vanier, Our Journey Home, p. 169