Jean Vanier Thoughts

Complexity of Humanity

Human beings are so complicated. We are body and spirit and we are heart and mind. We are searching for communion, but also for independence and success. Physically, we are close to the earth; but through our intelligence, we are close to what is cosmic. We each have our own personal history and our family roots. We are all a mixture of light and darkness, trust and fear, love and hatred.
- Jean Vanier, Our Journey Home, p. 206

The Inner Damage of Prejudice

There is disorder when we are prejudiced, when we make errors of judgment about others, when we are incapable of forgiving, or of listening to and welcoming strangers. We die inwardly when we shut ourselves off behind the walls that protect us. Life ceases to flow. We no longer give life to those around us.
- Jean Vanier, Our Journey Home, p. 205

The Desire to Change

In order to change and to become more open to others, we must first recognize that we need to change. If we do not recognize this, if we consider ourselves perfect, then we are not going to set out on the journey towards inner healing. We only go to the doctor if we are ill and know it, or if we need a checkup. In the same way, what gives us a desire for inner healing is an awareness of our prejudices, the difficulties we have with our sexuality and relationships, the divisions and blockages within us, the problems we have in communicating, and our fear of others and the anger they provoke in us. This desire for change becomes stronger when we want to grow in love and compassion, to live communion and cooperation, to be true to ourselves and to choose peace.
- Jean Vanier, Our Journey Home, p. 205

SWe are Forgetting How to Celebrate

The danger nowadays is that people no longer know how to celebrate and eat together. In some families, everybody eats at different times. They are all busy with their own projects and people they have to meet and they bolt their food down. In order to create unity, to live as a body, we need to know how to take time over meals, to eat well, with good wine or beer. We need to know how to tell stories, our own stories, and to laugh and sing together.
- Jean Vanier, Our Journey Home, p. 201
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The Ultimate Purpose

Celebrations are an expression of the ultimate purpose of humanity. We are made for communion and celebration, for the joy and blossoming of every person. The Bible talks of the end of time as a wedding feast between humankind and God where there is ecstasy, joy and celebration in God.
- Jean Vanier, Our Journey Home, p. 200

Celebrating with Meals

A community that does not celebrate is in danger of becoming just a group of people that gets things done. It becomes an institution. It is not really a community. Where there is mutual trust and love, people want to open themselves to one another, to celebrate and be together. This celebration is expressed in smiling and laughter, in simple sharing, in mutual concern and sensitivity and in the way that people relax when they come together. But it finds its fullest expression in shared meals, good meals with good wine. Aristotle says that for two people to be friends, they must eat a sack of salt together; they must share many meals.
- Jean Vanier, Our Journey Home, p. 199