Heart of L'Arche: A Spirituality for Every Day

by Jean Vanier

With simplicity and conviction, Jean Vanier shows how a life shared with handicapped people calls us to selflessness and risk. The vulnerability that is so much part of their lives reveals our own limits and forces us to ask questions that can lead us to profound liberation.

Genres: Spirituality

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Jean Vanier was educated in England and Canada, entered the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, England in 1942. He went to sea in 1945 in the Royal Navy and in 1947 transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy. He resigned from the Royal Canadian Navy in 1950 while serving H.M.C.S. Magnificent. He then went to France to work in a students' community outside of Paris. He studied philosophy and theology and obtained a Doctorate from the Catholic Institute in Paris.

At various times in his life, Vanier has been a(n)
author-
traveler-
founder-
humanitarian-
peacemaker-

Reviews

[Georgia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jean Vanier explains the beginning of L'Arche and the challenges and beauty of community life. It is inspirational and a book that should be read by anyone who would want to develop a deeper spiritual life.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing how the few can affect the many!

[Luís Branco · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is always a great pleasure to read anything from Jean Vanier, his writings a full of Christ and love for humanity.

[Matt Mooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

maybe my favorite Vanier book and that is saying a lot

[Pankaj Suneja · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is wisdom from years of experience of founding L'arche, a community that is countercultural which believes in equality and disturbs the hierarchy of so called normal world. jean Vanier had forty years of living experience in L'arche to write this essential book about heart of the community living with those who are rejected, poor and weak.
I myself have struggled with this paradox that only by offering to those who are in marginal and rejected in society, our heart opens and we grow in spirituality and humanity. As a psychotherapist, i learn that the boundary that separates me and the patient is not thick one. In the suffering, helopness, anguish and darkness of patient, I meet my own suffering and challenges that asks me what does it mean to be human, to grow to be human.
This book has come out of heart embodying the message of god. If someone desires to explore living in L'arche, this book gives introduction and understanding to the community.

[Elsie-Blossom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read, chocked full of information regarding L’Arche communities and how to love on one of the most marginalized people groups.