The Spirituality and Theology of
Jean Vanier and L’Arche
Dominic O. Vachon M.Div., Ph.D.
Director
Ruth M. Hillebrand Center for Compassionate Care in Medicine
Notre Dame Science
University of Notre Dame
dvachon@nd.edu
574-631-9536
By the hungry I will feed you,
By the poor I'll make you rich,
By the broken I will mend you,
Tell me which one is which.
1. I come like a beggar with a gift in my hand
2. I come like a prisoner to set you free
3. The need of another is the bread that I break
[Refrain and first lines of verses of "I Come Like a Beggar”, a popular
L’Arche song]
Jean Vanier’s life
• Canadian, son of the late Governor General
of Canada George Vanier and Pauline
Vanier, born on September 10, 1928
• From 1945 to 1950, served in the Royal
Navy England and then the Royal Canadian
Navy
• From 1950 to 1962, lived in a small
community, l’Eau Vive, led by the French
Dominican Thomas Philippe. In 1962 he
completed a Ph.D. in philosophy at l’Institut
Catholique de Paris doing his dissertation
on Aristotle
• 1963, teaches philosophy at St. Michael’s
College, University of Toronto
• Influenced by Fr. Thomas Phillipe’s work with
mentally handicapped men and visiting a number
of institutions, asylums, and psychiatric hospitals,
Vanier buys a small house and invites 2 mentally
handicapped men—Raphael and Philippe—into
his home on August 4, 1964 in Trosly-Breuil
• He calls the home L’Arche, the Ark as in Noah’s
Ark, symbol of refuge, diversity, and hope
(Downey, 1986)
Founder of 2 major international
community-based organizations
that exist for people with
intellectual disabilities
• L’Arche Communities (135 in 33 countries)
• Faith & Light (1,600 communities in 80
countries)
• 85 years old, continues to write, do public
speaking, meets many people, and lives in
L’Arche
Each person is unique and has
sacred value
Connectedness of all Humans and
the need to Belong and be Loved
Common Humanity
• “Until we realize that we belong to a
common humanity, that we need each other,
that we can help each other, we will
continue to hide behind feelings of elitism
and superiority and behind the wall of
prejudice, judgment, and disdain that those
feelings engender.”
(p. 82, Vanier, Becoming Human)
The Power of Weakness
• “Weakness, recognized, accepted, and
offered, is at the heart of belonging, so it is at the
heart of communion with another.
Weakness carries within it a secret power. The
cry and the trust that flow from weakness can
open up hearts. The one who is weaker can call
forth powers of love in the one who is stronger.”
(Vanier, Becoming Human, p. 40)
Society’s Problem
• “A society that honours only the powerful, the
clever, and the winners necessarily belittles the
weak. It is as if to say: to be human is to be
powerful.” (p. 46, Vanier, Becoming Human)
• God is intensely interested in what is happening to
those thought insignificant in society.
• Society based on competition, individual success,
materialism, secular values.
The Last Judgment (Mt. 25: 34-45)
Then the King will say to those on his right hand,
“Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for
your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the
foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you
gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I
was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked
and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in
prison and you came to see me….I tell you solemnly,
in so far as you did this to one of the least of these
brothers [and sisters] of mine, you did it to me.”
The Beatitudes (Mt. 5:3-10)
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
Heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for
they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons [and
daughters] of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted
because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.
Need for Relationship
• “The belief in the inner beauty of each and
every human being is at the heart of
L’Arche…We do not discover who we are,
we do not reach true humanness, in a
solitary state; we discover it through mutual
dependency, in weakness, in learning
through belonging.” (Vanier, Becoming Human)
Mutuality of the helping/healing process
• “I have learned that the process of teaching
and learning, of communication, involves
movement, back and forth: the one who is
healed and the one who is healing
constantly changes places.”
(p. 25, Vanier, Becoming Human)
“If you enter into relationship
with a lonely or suffering person
you will discover something else:
that it is you who are being healed.
The broken person will reveal to you your
own hurt
and the hardness of your heart,
but also how much you are loved.
Thus the one you came to heal
becomes your healer.”
Jean Vanier, The Broken Body (p.74)
"People who are weak and vulnerable can also
awaken in us what is most dark and ugly. Their
cry, their provocations, their constant demands
and their depression can unmask our own anguish
and violence. But isn't it true that in order to grow
in our humanity, we need to recognize the
violence and the power of hatred within our own
heart, all that we consider shameful and try to
hide? In L'Arche, we are gradually learning how
to manage these fears and energies in a positive
way, and how to free ourselves from the powers of
destruction within us."
Jean Vanier, The Scandal of Service (p. 3)
Spirituality of the Heart
• From the biblical and medieval spirituality of the
heart in which the emotion/affection is not
separated from intellect/reason.
• The human being at his/her core has a radical
impulse toward the good, an impulse of love
• The Spirit works through the Beatitudes in which
God’s grace is most present in woundedness and
vulnerability
Focus on accepting our imperfection
vs. striving for mastery and control
Caring about others over caring for
others
• In L’Arche homes, communities are based
on the ideas of “living with,” and not just
“doing for” those with mental handicaps.
• Those with handicaps are considered the
core members
Focus on our common humanity in
our woundedness and vulnerability
over focusing on our differences
Gift of Ecumenism
• “Little by little we discovered that to the live the
gift of ecumenism did not mean simply inviting
Anglicans and Protestants to our Catholic Masses
and celebrations but instead giving them more
space to live, celebrate and nourish their own
traditions---the Catholic faith at l’Arche had
become just one tradition amongst others. And so
it was when we moved to non-Christian
countries.” (Vanier, Our Life Together)
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES 1
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES 2
• 2. If human beings are to develop their abilities
and talents to the full, realizing all their potential
as individuals, they need an environment that
fosters personal growth. They need to form
relationships with others within families and
communities. They need to live in an atmosphere
of trust, security and mutual affection. They need
to be valued, accepted and supported in real and
warm relationships.
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES 3
• 3. People with a mental handicap often
possess qualities of welcome, wonderment,
spontaneity, and directness. They are able to
touch hearts and to call others to unity
through their simplicity and vulnerability. In
this way they are a living reminder to the
wider world of the essential values of the
heart without which knowledge, power and
action lose their meaning and purpose.
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES 4
• 4. Weakness and vulnerability in a person,
far from being an obstacle to union with
God, can foster it. It is often through
weakness, recognized and accepted, that the
liberating love of God is revealed.
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES 5
• 5. In order to develop the inner freedom to
which all people are called, and to grow in
union with God, each person needs to have
the opportunity of being rooted and
nourished in a religious tradition.
Aims of L’Arche 1
• 1. The aim of l'Arche is to create
communities, which welcome people with a
mental handicap. By this means, l'Arche
seeks to respond to the distress of those who
are too often rejected, and to give them a
valid place in society.
Aims of L’Arche 2
Aims of L’Arche 3
Aims of L’Arche 4
• 4. In a divided world, l'Arche wants to be a
sign of hope. Its communities, founded on
covenant relationships between people of
differing intellectual capacity, social origin,
religion and culture, seek to be signs of
unity, faithfulness and reconciliation.
7 Aspects of Love Necessary for the
Transformation of the heart in those who are
profoundly lonely (Vanier, Becoming Human, p. 22)
• 1. To reveal their beauty
• 2. To understand
• 3. To communicate
• 4. Celebrate them
• 5. To empower
• 6. Mutual belonging
• 7. To forgive
So, do not shrink from suffering,
but enter into it
and discover there the mystery
of the presence of the risen Jesus.
He is hidden there, in the sacrament of the poor.
And do not turn aside from your own pain,
your anguish and brokenness,
your loneliness and emptiness,
by pretending you are strong.
Go within yourself.
go down the ladder of your own being
until you discover--like a seed
buried in the broken, ploughed earth
of your own vulnerability--the presence of Jesus,
the light shining in the darkness.
Jean Vanier, The Broken Body (pp. 62-63)
"L'Arche's spirituality is not chiefly about
doing things for the poor, but about
listening to them, welcoming them and
living with them a covenant---a relationship
of fidelity rooted in Jesus' fidelity to the
poor---to help them discover the meaning
and purpose of their lives."
Jean Vanier, The Heart of L’Arche (p.50)
"The poor reveal to those who come to be with
them how to live compassionately on the level of
the heart. They evangelize us. They show us the
way of the beatitudes. A gradual transformation
takes place in the hearts of those who come to live
with them. They discover their own poverty.
They discover that the good news of Jesus is
announced, not to those who serve the poor, but to
those who are themselves poor. The poor lead
them from generosity to compassion…."
Jean Vanier, The Heart of L’Arche (p.51)
"This tension and stress
that we experience as we live with wounded people
can prevent growth and stimulate anger and exhaustion,
which are not always recognized and acknowledged.
We must learn
not just to free ourselves from tension and fatigue
on the sabbath day, our day of rest.
We must learn,
as the mother must learn
in front of the never-ending needs of her children,
how to respect our energy
and relax in all the moments of our day
filled as they may be with arduous work
or often tiresome meetings,
and crises of all sorts,
and the hundred and one things-that-have-to-be-done.
To do this we must discover how to harmonize
the active and the passive in us.
If we are just doers,
feeling terribly responsible and serious,
we will crack up one day.
We must nourish the passive part of us,
our hearts made for a personal love,
learning to listen to others,
to marvel at nature,
to rest a moment in the presence of Jesus,
to receive the love of those around us
and be nourished by their trust,
enjoying the little things of each day,
not taking ourselves too seriously,
accepting to become like little children.
Jean Vanier, The Broken Body (pp. 120-121)