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Avoid the poison in your life that brings you turmoil.

Jean Vanier

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Jean Vanier
Age: 90 †
Born: 1928
Born: September 10
Died: 2019
Died: May 7
Naval Officer
Philosopher
Theologian
University Teacher
Writer
Genève
Turmoil
Poison
Avoid
Brings
Life

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A community is only a community when the majority of its members are making the transition from 'the community for myself' to 'myself for the community'.
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One of the marvelous things about community is that it enables us to welcome and help people in a way we couldn't as individuals.
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The belly laugh is the best way to evacuate anguish.
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We don’t know what to do with our own pain, so what to do with the pain of others? We don’t know what to do with our own weakness except hide it or pretend it doesn’t exist. So how can we welcome fully the weakness of another if we haven’t welcomed our own weakness?
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Community is not an ideal it is people. It is you and I. In community we are called to love people just as they are with their wounds and their gifts, not as we want them to be.
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[Happiness] comes when we choose to be who we are, to be ourselves, at this present moment in our lives.
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Wisdom is something that comes, little by little, through a lot of listening.
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To love someone is to show to them their beauty, their worth and their importance.
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Peace is the fruit of love, a love that is also justice. But to grow in love requires work -- hard work. And it can bring pain because it implies loss -- loss of the certitudes, comforts, and hurts that shelter and define us.
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But let us not put our sights too high. We do not have to be saviours of the world! We are simply human beings, enfolded in weakness and in hope, called together to change our world one heart at a time. (163)
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Those we most often exclude from the normal life of society, people with disabilities, have profound lessons to teach us
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A tension or difficulty can signal the approach of a new grace of God. But it has to be looked at wisely and humanly.
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People cannot accept their own evil if they do not at the same time feel loved, respected and trusted.
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We can be seduced...by powerful political groups that promise more wealth and lower taxes. Those with power can use clever, psychological tricks and play upon our weaknesses and brokenness in order to attract us to their way of thinking. We can be manipulated into illusion.
Jean Vanier
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I remember that throughout history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they can seem invincible. But in the end they always fall. Think of it always...whenever you are in doubt that that is God's way - the way the world is meant to be. Think of that and then try to do His way.
Jean Vanier
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In any case, community is not about perfect people. It is about people who are bonded to each other, each of whom is a mixture of good and bad, darkness and light, love and hate.
Jean Vanier
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Every act of violence is also a message that needs to be understood. (23-24)
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A growing community must integrate three elements: a life of silent prayer, a life of service and above all of listening to the poor, and a community life through which all its members can grow in their own gift.
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Community begins in mystery and ends in administration. Leaders move away from people and into paper.
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Many people confuse authority and the power of efficiency, as if the first role of people with responsibility is to take decisions, command effectively and so exercise power. But their role first of all is to be a person to whom others can turn for help and advice, to provide security, to affirm, to support, to encourage and to guide.
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