麻豆约拍

Good morning.

Ten days ago a French Canadian named Jean Vanier was awarded the 2015 Templeton Prize in London.聽 The Templeton prize is awarded annually to someone who has made a distinctive and notable contribution to the development of some aspect of the spiritual in the lives of others.聽 Former winners include Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama.聽 Vanier is a man who has long been a hero of mine.聽 He is a quiet and unassuming hero but a hero nonetheless.聽 Over the past fifty years a network of communities known as L鈥橝rche聽 - significantly, French for both ark and arch聽 鈥� has grown up all over the world.聽 In these communities the physically and mentally disabled live alongside and as equals 鈥� that aspect is crucial 鈥� with those without disability.聽 L鈥橝rche, which now has 147 communities in 35 countries, began with Vanier鈥檚 decision in 1964 to invite two intellectually disabled men to come and live with him in France.聽 This decision came out of Vanier鈥檚 insight that the supposedly strong need the supposedly weak to help them recognise and accept their own vulnerability as a means of personal and spiritual growth.聽 In his most recent book 鈥淪even Signs of Hope鈥�, Vanier puts it like this 鈥� 鈥淎n encounter between strength and weakness can make possible an interaction through which the weak can find a certain security and develop and the strong can learn to accept their own vulnerability and discover the real meaning of life鈥�.聽 For over fifty years Vanier and his 鈥渁rks鈥� have given dignity, love and hope to thousands of people with disability and provided a 鈥渟chool of the heart鈥� for thousands more who have lived alongside them.聽

God of us all, help us to grow in our understanding that in weakness can lie strength.聽 Amen