Nov 2013 The Road to Daybreak A Spiritual Journey by Henri J M Nouwen

Continue from ...... L'Arche Built upon the Body One of the most important things that Jean Vanier is saying to me during this retreat is that L'Arche is built upon the body and not upon the word. This helps to explain my struggle in coming to L'Arche. Until now my whole life has ben cenred around the word: learning,teaching, reading, writing, speaking. Without the word, my life is unthinkable. A good day is day with a good conversation, a good lecture given or heard, a good book read, or a good article written. Most of my joys and pains are connected with words. L'Arche, however, is built not on words, but on the body. The community of L'Arch is a community formed around the wounded bodies of handicapped people. Feeding, cleaning, touching, holding - this is what builds the community. Words are secondary. Most handicapped people have few words to speak, and many do not speak at all. It is the language of the body that counts most. "The Word becane flesh." That is the centre of the Christian message. Before the Incarnation, the relationship between body and word was unclear. Often the body was seen as a hindrance to the full realization of what the word wanted to express. But Jesus confronts us with the word that can be seen, heard, and touched. The body thus becomes the way to know the word and to enter into relationship with the word. The body of Jesus becomes the way to life. "He who eats my body and drinks my blood will have eternal life." I feel a deep resistance against this way. someow I have come to think about eating, drinking, washing, and dressing as so many necessary preconditions for reading, speaking, teaching, or writing. Somehow the pure word was the real thing for me. Time spent with "material" things was necessary but needed to be kept to a minimum. But at L'Arche, that is where all the attention goes. At L'Arche the body is the place where the word is met. It is in relationship to the wounded body of the handicapped persont that I must learn to discover God. This is very hard for me. I still find a long meal in the middle of the day a waste of time. I still think that I have more important things to do than to set the table, eat slowly, wash the dishes, and set the table again. I think, "Surely we must eat, but the work which comes after is what counts." But L'Arche cannot be endured with this mind set. I wonder when and how I will learn to fully live the Incarnation. I suppose that only the handicapped people themselves will be able to show me the way. I must trust that God will send me the teachers I need.

- To Be Continued - © Copyright Shalom 2013. All rights reserved.