Farewell to Jean Vanier
DailyGood
BY THE VIVIR AGRADECIDOS TEAM
Syndicated from gratefulness.org, Jun 30, 2019

3 minute read

 

Jean Vanier, philosopher, theologian, humanist and founder of L’Arche, an international federation of communities for people with developmental disabilities and those who assist them, died on May 7, 2019. He was 90 years old. Described by his acquaintances as “a compassionate man with a big heart, a passionate advocate for humanity, truth, and peace,” Vanier leaves behind a legacy of tenderness, compassion, and true inclusion.

Vanier’s life is a bold and inspiring example of grateful living. He saw the beauty, contributions, and essential value of everyone, most notably those whom mainstream society had shunned. Through relationships grounded in compassion, respect, and reciprocity, Vanier founded a worldwide movement based on his belief that people with disabilities are teachers rather than burdens to society.

Born in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1928, Jean Vanier spent his childhood between England, Canada, and France. At the age of 13 he felt the call to a military career, which he later abandoned to devote himself to the study of philosophy and theology. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy, working as a professor at the University of Toronto, Canada.

In 1963 Vanier visited the community of Vallée Fleurie in France, home to some 30 men with mental disabilities. This experience moved him deeply and he discovered a new way of living based essentially on relationship. The following year he founded his own community welcoming people with disabilities which he named L’Arche.

The community of L’Arche was created for those who, because of their condition, are marginalized by society. Living with disabled people generated in Vanier a deep reflection on humankind, our vulnerability and our tendency to marginalize. From this experience grew a profound anthropological and spiritual vision.

“What was most important for the people I welcome at L’Arche,” says Jean Vanier, “was not pedagogy or educational technique. It was my attitude towards them, my way of listening to them, of looking at them with respect and love, of responding to their desires, of rejoicing and laughing with them … This is how little by little they were able to discover their own beauty, and that their life had meaning and value. Little by little, they were not for me people with disabilities, but friends. They do me good, and I think I do them good.”

Jean Vanier’s L’Arche now has a presence in 38 countries with more than 150 communities serving people with special needs. Their aligned spiritual initiative, Faith and Light — bringing together family and friends of people with disabilities — has more than 1,800 communities around the world.

During his youth, Vanier’s experience of World War II impacted him deeply, turning him into a lifelong activist for peace. He was greatly influenced by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. He traveled to Hiroshima to pray for world peace and to Brazil to connect with the International Reconciliation Movement and other movements founded on principles of nonviolence. On several occasions he met with Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, who later received the Nobel Peace Prize. Vanier traveled to the Philippines to join the nonviolent movement of Corazon Aquino, and then to India to meet with Mother Teresa of Calcutta. He was nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

In recognition of his contributions to humanity, in addition to his nominations for the Nobel Prize, Jean Vanier received numerous awards including the Order of Canada, the Legion of Honor of France, the International Prize Paul VI, the Beacon Prize, and the Templeton Prize.

A documentary about his life refers to Jean Vanier as a “Sacrament of Tenderness.” Among the innumerable testimonies to his legacy, one of his collaborators declared that he learned from Vanier that “tenderness is the highest form of spiritual maturity.”

Jean Vanier leaves as his legacy a call to a more human world: “The only way in which we can live fully in the human community is to rise up with all our frailty and suffering in order to open ourselves to others, and not stay locked in ourselves.”

Adapted from Adiós a Jean Vanier, posted on VivirAgradecidos.org

 

This article is printed here with permission. It originally appeared on Gratefulness, the online magazine of the A Network for Grateful Living. This is a global organization offering online and community-based educational programs and practices which inspire and guide a commitment to grateful living, and catalyze the transformative power of personal and societal responsibility.  

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