compiled by John Borst with files from Mary Catherine Kelly

Jean Vanier, speaking to an overflow crowd of nearly 2000 Catholic educators at the recent When Faith Meets Pedagogy conference, said “We need to be able to see poverty, know that we have the Holy Spirit and gentleness to help us to address it”. He said that “we must have a hunger and zest for justice. We must be humbled by the poor and bend down and be healed by the poor. It is our call to break down the walls of difference between people.”

In an effort to call us to work for justice and peace, Vanier asked Catholic educators, “How do we define what we do?” He replied, “We need to bring people together. We need to reveal corruption. We need to reveal the face of the man in the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor.”

Vanier acknowledged that, we live in an exciting world, with lots of technology and medical advances that sometimes place us into contradiction. He said, “We are a world that is filled with competition and that creates a pervasive attitude that we have to be better than everyone else. Competition he said, can bring about depression and anguish because we can’t all win.

According to Vanier, teachers need to be conscious of “the beauty of the eagle”. He called on educators to create alternatives, where we can be together without competition, and, not live a “pyramidal model of hierarchy”.

Vanier posed a series of questions: “What makes us human?” “What is church today?” “What is preciousness?” “What reveals it?” “Where is humanity leading? What is the purpose of education?

To answer such questions Vanier said, “We need to send the message of what Jesus means us to be. The human dignity of each person is important and precious.” In a world of inequalities, conflict, hunger, and no water… he explained, we can’t be blind to the future; “We must work for Global peace!”

Vanier went on to say, “There is danger in globalization but we need to build up a generation to do things in a beautiful way.” Kids he said often feel discouraged, and are under constant pressure to do better. This, he said “is a cultural problem”.

Children, Vanier said, need us to forgive. We are entrusted, Vanier added, to give all children love, voice, gentleness, and the sense that “you are precious, you are important and I love you.” As educators, Vanier told us, “We need to be able to do this and say this to our students”.

History tells us that “globalism…money…success” is the mantra today, said Vanier. He called on teachers “to feel and be bonded”. He said we should not push others down and that we need to recognize there are many faith and justice people who cry out, in the same fashion as like Martin Luther King, who was shot down for doing so.

Vanier told his audience, one of the most important messages one can share and give someone is to say “I trust you”. This is the message he said, his father told him as he decided to go off to join the royal navy. “This statement,” he said, “has been the root of my being”. “It helps to awaken what is right and what is wrong,” he continued. He thinks of “the face of Jesus” and he thinks that “this is the face of peace.” “If we think of the face of Jesus,” he said, “we are a society that can think that there is another way. We should be at peace, not in war.”

Jean Vanier shared his life journey and he spoke about being a student at St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. At that time, he visited the handicapped. He could see that each person he met was crying out for relationship; they were calling out for love and friendship. The handicapped were calling to be recognized as a human person. He shared a story of meeting a handicapped person and they often called to him and said, “Will you be my friend?” He saw the pain of the institutions and there were so many people who had to put their children into these environments. It was then, he decided to get a house and bring some of the handicapped in with him and now there are 9 houses in Ontario and many other homes in the L’Arch community around the world.

Vanier challenged his educational audience with such questions as: “How do we help kids find their place in society and see the face of Jesus and the message of Peace and Universality? How can I be a disciple of peace in my family and in my school? How do we get kids to appreciate non violence? How can we help kids to understand sexuality? How can we develop our heart so we can take our place in the world?”

Vanier’s answer:

“We need to give kids love, hope, and break down the walls of discouragement. Relationships are important -helping people to accept who they are, and that is to be people who have value. We need to take time to listen and to show them they have value. It is important to communicate and it needs to be face to face so that you can see the face, the eyes and hear the voice. It is something you must do and must give. It is important to know each child by name, especially the most difficult child and to help them with their problems. It is necessary to help them in their deep rooted troubledness. It is then, that we are called to care for: the most challenged, most hurt, most physically challenged, and, to be the gospel story of the Good Samaritan. When the enemy becomes the friend and you are transformed! It is hard to be present to every person but we need to be called to help the most weak. Those who are crying for help; those who are less bright! We must create children of compassion in our schools, who have the care of love and mutual understanding. We together need to meet Jesus–not just the faith, but faith and trust in the person. Trust and faith is the same word. Love is the message of peace and the beatitudes. It is our vocation…we need togetherness-peace is possible. We need to welcome the weak. We must stop hatred. We must get rid of the need to despise. We need to love. We need each other to discover who we are. We need wisdom …. A new understanding of what it means to be human. Fundamental vision of what Jesus wants for us. Those least presentable–incapacitated to compete but they cry out for relationship, they are necessary to the church. So we can be with those who are rejected…we must have a capacity to love and to relate.”

Jean Vanier, is the founder of the International Federation of L’Arche communities, where people with and without intellectual disabilities share life together in group homes. Today there are 134 L’Arch communities on six continents; 28 are in Canada. Jean Vanier also co-founded Faith and Light (family support groups) and he has written several books; his best sellers are “Becoming Human” and “Finding Peace”. He is truly revered for being “the voice for all who are marginalized and a great Canadian who inspires the world”. He has been honoured by Pope Paul V1 International Prize, Companion of the Order of Canada and the French Legion of Honour.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites