Jean Vanier

“Love doesn't mean doing extraordinary or heroic things. It means knowing how to do ordinary things with tenderness.”

“Every child, every person needs to know that they are a source of joy.”

“To love someone is not first of all to do things for them, but to reveal to them their beauty and value.”

“Peace is not the absence of conflicts, but the ability to cope with them.”

“To be lonely is to feel unwanted and unloved, and therefore unlovable.”

“To forgive is to reveal the beauty of a person beyond the hurt they have done you.”

“We are not called by God to do extraordinary things, but to do ordinary things with extraordinary love.”

“Growth begins when we start to accept our own weakness.”

“One of the marvelous things about community is that it enables us to welcome and help people in a way we couldn't as individuals.”

“Community is a place where the connections felt in our hearts make themselves known in the bonds of relationships.”

“Those who are weak have great things to teach us.”

“When we love and respect people, revealing to them their value, they can begin to come out from behind the walls that protect them.”

“I am struck by how sharing our weakness and difficulties is more connecting than sharing our strengths and successes.”

“To be human is to be in relationship.”

“A group becomes a community when it is able to accept its own brokenness.”