Trosly, November 2005
It will soon be Christmas, a season that reveals a message of gentleness, of intimacy in the family, of gifts and celebrations and of the joy of little children, Christmas carols, sparkling lights in the streets, the crib and midnight services. I remember Christmas mornings when I was a child. My brother Bernard and I slept in the same room. We would rush to look under our beds where we would always find our mother's stockings filled with gifts, and at the bottom, nuts and tangerines (which at that time were "Christmas fruits").
Christmas reminds us of the words of the angel, a messenger of God:
"A saviour is born? great joy? a sign? a child? glory to God and peace on earth"
(cf Luke 2: 10-11).
Just a few words but so meaningful. Christmas is a time of celebration of God's gift to the poor, a time for the liberation of hearts.
I love to re-read St James' letter to the Christian community written just a few years after the death of Jesus. People were, he said, respecting the rich and the influential, giving them the best places in the assemblies and leaving out the poor. "Listen my beloved brothers and sisters: it was those who were poor according to the world that God chose to be rich in faith and to be the heirs to the kingdom which he promised to those who love him. You on the other hand have dishonoured the poor"(James 2:: 5-6).
Christmas reminds us of the place that the weakest should hold in our lives and in our communities.
Today our world is terribly broken: peace, liberation of hearts, joy, and recognition of God seem so far from our reality. Dark clouds of violence and discouragement seem to hide the sun of peace and hope. Bad news fills our lives. Christmas itself seems to have been taken hostage by the society of consumption. Today Christmas is not so much a time of celebration for the poor, but rather a time of holidays in the sun or the snow, eating and drinking a lot? Too much, and so a time when the gap between the rich and the poor only widens. The weak are so easily forgotten.
At the birth of Jesus some 2000 years ago the angel's words announced a light in all the darkness: Israel was oppressed, under the boots of Roman soldiers, within the Jewish society itself there were terrible divisions: those in authority seemed to be locked up in their desire to maintain and defend their power at all costs. And all the beggars, the lepers, the widows were excluded. Perhaps what we are living today is not much different. History tends to repeat itself. And today, as in the past, there are messengers of God who continue to announce hope, the liberation of hearts, joy, peace, all flowing from the Heart of God. Peace is still possible if each one of us does his or her part!
Many events in past years have made people live in fear. We all risk closing up in our religious, cultural and national certitudes and securities. Walls are being built and reinforced between groups, races and religions. At the same time, however, more and more men and women are rising up against the danger of these closures. Many are taking the risk of opening their hearts to the marginalised, to those in pain and those who are different. They are rooted in their faith and live in communion with the God of goodness, tenderness, forgiveness and compassion, a humble and vulnerable God, close to the excluded for God himself is the most excluded One in our world today. Brother Roger Schutz of Taizé was one of these gentle, humble men. Did he have to die by shedding his blood like Jesus? His life and that of his brothers in Taizé have given so much hope to millions of young people throughout the world ever since the foundation of the Community in 1940. Thank you, Brother Roger, for the gift of your life.
I would like to give thanks also for all those who have been a light of hope for the world in recent years: John-Paul II, Mother Teresa, Oscar Romero, Jean Goss, Dorothy Day, Mahatma Gandhi, Abdul Gaffar Kahn, Etty Hillesum, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Mgr von Gallen (a German bishop in Nazi Germany who risked his life in order to defend the life and rights of people with disabilities). The list is long of those who have worked for life. I am thinking in a special way today of Charles de Foucauld, the "universal little brother," who has just been beatified in Rome. He lived a long time in Algeria, becoming the friend of the Muslim people. It is he who inspired the Fraternities of the Little Brothers and Sisters of Jesus who live centred on Jesus in the Eucharist, close to the weak and the forgotten. Thank you, Brother Charles, for the gift of your life.
Our societies tend to forget the importance of being with people in pain, accompanying them in all their fragility. They want immediate healing or simply the elimination of the weak; they seek rapid solutions and quick easy integration: curing instead of caring. l'Arche, Faith and Light, Palliative Care, the Little Brothers and Sisters of Jesus, Sant'Egidio and many others know the importance of "being with," "walking with" people who are fragile as with brothers and sisters. We need of course to do all we can to relieve suffering, with the help of technology, but healing of the heart comes from presence and friendship. Some of the greatest suffering comes when people feel they are treated like objects, not persons. The importance of creating links... isn't that the message of Christmas?
Different events I lived during these last few months have given me much hope. In August, the World Youth days in Cologne: the thirst for God in the hearts of so many young people, yearning to know the Gospel better. Then all the young people in Taizé for Brother Roger's funeral: in spite of the tragic way he died, they desire to follow in his footsteps to work towards unity and reconciliation. I remain deeply touched by the Brothers of Taizé. I had the privilege of being with them for the funeral and again a few weeks later. I am deeply touched by the Brothers. Their way of opening the hearts of the young to God and to the weak and the poor is a light for all of us. Then there was the retreat in Slovenia organised by l'Arche and Faith and Light and another in St Petersburg (Russia). These retreats were a source of life and a real nourishment for those wanting to deepen their commitment with the weak. And I met a group that has a great desire to found a l'Arche community in Siberia? It will take time!
In July, I was invited to Jordan by an organisation called "Questscope" to meet young Muslims in difficulty, some in prison or in specialised centres, and the psychologists and educators who accompany them. We worked together to find an anthropology adapted to these young people. In order to grow, to get out of their situation, they need to find someone who will accompany them, as a friend; someone who can listen to them without judging and who can see the beauty in them; someone who, with others, will create a network of friendship, a community. They need also to discover their own inner space for God.
In September, the community of Sant'Egidio organised a big interreligious meeting in Lyon. I participated in a Round Table discussion with a Muslim philosopher and a Jewish Rabbi on "An anthropology for the 21st Century." Very interesting! The vision of the human being evolves, is transformed and deepens throughout the centuries. The closing ceremony, with the kiss of peace between Rabbis, Imams, Muslim theologians and leaders of Christian churches - and the whole meeting itself - was a real witness to unity and peace.
Violence and "bad news" are so visible on our television screens, whilst so much "good news" often remains hidden from and even ignored by the media: The commitment of many people in small communities that are signs of love; young people sharing their life with the poor, going to live in Africa, Asia, or Latin America with "Intercordia" or other organizations, in order to discover the beauty of other cultures, to serve the poor and to become their brother, their sister; and all the people in the explosive suburbs of Paris today who are there to listen to the pain, to seek ways to relieve the suffering and to understand and repair the injustices. Change the world one heart at a time.
In order to continue to live day after day with people in difficulty, we need to be part of a community founded on faith, a community that is open, welcoming and helping each one of us to grow and become more free of our fears, our prejudices and our compulsions; thus helping us to become more loving, more human; a community that is a place of forgiveness and celebration. One of the founding texts of l'Arche is the blessing of Jesus: When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind? And you will be blessed (cf Luke 14: 12). To share our meals with those who have been marginalised is a sign of our desire to enter into relationship with them, a relationship which transforms us; it is to take our place in order to reduce the gap between the have and have-nots, the powerful and the powerless.
My joy is to be in l'Arche, at "Le Val Fleuri" for my meals. It is truly a privilege for me to be there. I was the community leader and then house leader of the Val for many years. Now, when I am 77, people here are taking care of me, often telling me: "You need to get some rest." It is good to grow old in l'Arche and I admire our house leaders and our community leaders today. Yes, it is truly a blessing as Jesus says to sit down at table with people who had been excluded, to become their friend. Through that friendship we are gradually transformed. It is a joy also for me to give retreats at "La Ferme" for the young and the not so young alike.
In our communities of l'Arche and Faith and Light we live times of struggle, grief and death, but what a joy for me to see the faithfulness, love and competence of so many committed people.
Christmas is a sign of hope, a sign that love is stronger than hatred and that peace is possible, if each one of us, wherever we are, becomes an instrument of peace. Then:
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard lies down with the kid,
calf and the young lion will feed together,
with a little boy to lead them?
No hurt, no harm will be done
on all my holy mountain,
for the country will be full
of knowledge of Yahweh
as the waters cover the sea? (Is 11: 5-9)
Peace, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!
Jean