Quotes

"This transition or conversion often begins when we meet a person who recognises our profound beauty, who appreciates the secret of our being, hidden behind our faults, fears, false values, and who sees all the potential for life contained in this secret. ... In my own case, this meeting took place with Fr. Thomas when he welcomed me after all my years in the navy. I felt that he knew me and all that was good or bad inside me, my secret self--that he loved and accepted me just as I was. This was a liberation for me. I did not have to wear a mask, or pretend to be intelligent or good. It is marvellous to be seen and recognised as a person with a destiny and a mission."

--Jean Vanier, Our Journey Home

"We are used to being told that weak people need strong people. This is obvious. But inner unity and healing come about when strong people become aware of their need of the weak. The weak awaken and reveal the heart; they awaken energies of tenderness and compassion, kindness and communion. They awaken the source of life. It was the little woman with Alzheimer's who awoke the deep spring of life in her husband. She called forth his true self and his deep 'I' from behind the barriers protecting his heart and his need for power. In embracing his weak wife with tenderness, the husband, the strong one, had begun to welcome his own weakness, the child--the wounded child--inside him. Through this he discovered that he had the right to have failings and weaknesses, that he did not always need to be strong, to win, to succeed and dominate. He could be vulnerable. He did not have to wear a mask, or pretend to be other than he was. He could be himself. ... It requires time and constant effort to remain faithful to communion. But this leads to the discovery of our true humanity, and so to a deep inner liberation. In discovering the beauty and light hidden in those who are weak, the strong begin to discover the beauty and light in their own weakness. And more than this; they discover that weakness is a place that favours love and communion, it is the place where God dwells. They discover God hidden in littleness, and this is an even greater liberation."

 --ditto