By Your Oneness, Many Will Come to Love My Son

“In community people care for each other and not just for the community in the abstract, as a whole, as an institution or as an ideal way of life. It is people that matter; to love and care for the people that are there, just as they are. It is to care for them in such a way that they may grow according to the plan of God and thus give much life. And it is not just caring in a passing way, but in a permanent way. Because people are bonded one to another, they make up one family, one people, one flock. And this people has been called together to be a sign and a witness, to accomplish a particular mission which is their charism, their gift.” (from Community and Growth)

“Fraternal communion is really a fragile vase in our hands. Or, as you say, an infant extremely sensitive to the ups and downs of health. Better yet, fraternal communion does not exist. It is never a completed edifice, or a tree that has grown tall, or an infant totally born to light. Communion is a daily beginning. Every day it has to be cared for and nurtured like a delicate plant. Frequently one has to nurse it like an injured child.” (from Come With Me)

“Marriage is not just a honeymoon; it is also a time of loss. Each one loses their individual independence. Each one sacrifices his or her ego for a relationship in which man and woman have become one. That is also the pain of community life. Community is the place where the power of the ego is revealed and where it is called to die so that people become one body and give much life. Jesus said that ‘unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit’ (John 12:24).” (from Community and Growth)

“A community is like an orchestra: each instrument is beautiful when it plays alone, but when they all play together, each given its own weight in turn, the result is even more beautiful. A community is like a garden full of flowers, shrubs and trees. Each helps to give life to the other. Together, they bear witness to the beauty of God, creator and gardener-extraordinary.” (from Community and Growth)

Kindness is Dialogue Embracing Goodwill

The way to kindness is humility, the foundation upon which Franciscan spirituality rests. Kindness is dialoging with your brother or sister in humility to seek truth, understanding and reconciliation.

With dialogue, the community may learn that, in all that is important and more, it is of one heart and mind after all.

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COMMUNITY AND GROWTH, Revised Edition, by Jean Vanier, Paulist Press, ISBN 0-8091-3135-8

COME WITH ME, BUILDING CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY, by Ignacio Larranaga, Mediaspaul, ISBN 2-89039-241-5