Courtney McGrailThe Gospel of John, The Gospel of Relationship
Jean Vanier
(Darton, Longman & Todd, £9.99 pb)
Anthony Redmond
Jean Vanier is such an extraordinary man. He is a philosopher and humanitarian, a prolific writer and the founder of L’Arche, an international network of communities dedicated to the support and flourishing of people with intellectual or learning difficulties. It would be quite impossible to praise him too highly.
In this remarkable and deeply moving book Jean Vanier concentrates on the Gospel of John, which emphasises our relationship with God and with each other. It is a Gospel which has had a profound effect on his entire life. The love of God is expressed in compassion and mercy. We express our love for God by caring for others and in our love for them.
He writes: “How may I welcome others, different and just as they are? How can I discover that, even though some may be different from me, in the depths of our being we are the same and that we are all beautiful? I should not right away see the negative in others. All human beings are loved by God. Let us first see the good in the others, and not fix ourselves on the negative. On the other hand, when we look inside ourselves, let us see the negative in us, even the seeds of hatred that enable us to put others down.”
There are so many ideologies which encourage us to hate or despise or turn away from compassion and love.
Trapped
Vanier tells us that if we become trapped in an ideology, we refuse to accept reality. We refuse to accept others because we are closed up in our own ideas and certitudes. Jesus came to liberate us from ideology.
Jean Vanier says: “The most profound desire of the oppressed, and each of us in our poverty, is for a true relationship. This is the whole meaning of L’Arche. It is not a matter of doing good deeds for people with a disability or people who are oppressed and humiliated. It is not a matter of giving things to them. True relationship implies helping others to discover who they truly are, respected and loved in their deepest person and called to rise up as they are to find their place in the world or in the Church.”
Jean Vanier’s whole approach is pro-life. He respects the old, the infirm, the vulnerable and fragile. He is a true humanitarian. He epitomises unselfishness and compassion. He tells us: “The message of Jesus is so simple. He reveals a vision of love, where the rejected and the weak have the central place. It is they who call us to act! Their cry for love and justice awakens a new force within us.
“Perhaps today, if we work together with the rejected and the weak, we can all rise up to create a new world together. So it is they, the weak and the rejected, who are our prophets. It is they who are the presence of God among us.”
Risk
At a time when the life of the unborn child is at greater risk than ever before from abortion the message of Jean Vanier is more relevant and urgent than ever. He speaks about the beauty and vulnerability of the child and its need for love and protection.
“The aim of this Gospel (of John),” he writes, “is to help every one of us to discover that we are all beautiful children of God. The prologue says, ‘All those who believed in him have become children of God.’ L’Arche is a place where each one of us with or without visible disabilities can grow in love and develop together, so that we can reclaim the extraordinary dignity of our common humanity, as well as our call to become beloved children of God and to work together for the unity of the human family and of creation.”
Jean Vanier is an example to us all. He is a truly wonderful man and this is an inspirational book. As he says in the preface: “My hope is that all that I have received from John may be shared with many others. John has formed my heart, my prayer, my life, my spirituality and my theology. I am grateful to him. May each of us become, as he was, a beloved friend of Jesus.”
