pat loughery

The mission of the Christian community is expressed in general and specific ways, according to Vanier.

Each community has a general mission, to express the life of God amongst its members. And each community has a specific mission, “its specific way of giving life through its particular goals” (p. 88). The goals of each community should be clarified; the mission of the community is deeper than just “we want to live together.”

For L’Arche and other Christian communities, there is a specific focus on being with the poor, and in choosing to do so we must recognize that our “dignity” may need to change. Vanier writes:

Little Sister Madeleine, who founded hte Little Sisters of Jesus, wrote in a letter to them:

Do not feel obliged, in order to protect your religious dignity and your intimacy with god against exterior dangers, to put up barriers between the lay world and yourself. Don’t put yourself on the fringe of human society…

Like Jesus, become part of that humanity. Penetrate deeply into it and sanctify your environment by the conformity of your life, by your friendship; by your love, by your life totally given to the service of others, like Jesus, by a way so mixed in with everyone else’s that you may be one with them, wanting only to be in their midst like yeast that loses itself in the dough in order to make it rise.

Christian communities are there to bring life and hope to people in pain. (p. 92)

This emphasis continues.

Christian communities continue the work of Jesus. They are sent to be a presence to people who are living in darkness and despair. The people who come into these communities also respond to the call and the cry of the week and oppressed. They enter into the covenant with Jesus and the poor. They meet Jesus in them.

People who are poor seem to break down the barriers of powerlessness, of wealthy, of ability and of pride; they pierce the armour the human heart builds to protect itself; they reveal Jesus Christ. They reveal to those who have come to ‘help’ them their own poverty and vulnerability.

The poor teach us how to live the Gospel. That is why they are the treasures of the church. (p. 96)