Aug 2015 The Road to Daybreak A Spiritual Journey by Henri J M Nouwen

Continue from The Interreligious Struggle Today I spoke for two hours with Dorothy, an Indian woman who is leader of L'Arche community in Madras, India. She is spending a few months in Trosly to stay in touch with the European communities, to take some rest after many full years of work, and to deepen her own spiritual commitment. Her descriptionof her life and work in Madras filled me with awe. Muslims, Hindus, and Catholics live in the same house. It is a real struggle to find a common life of worship. In the beginning, when all the assistants were Catholics from Europe, there developed a clearly Catholic liturgical life. But now that Indian assistants from different religious backgrounds have joined, things are much less simple. The Hindu assistants do not have a clear worship ritual, the Muslims do not accept any images, whether Christian or Hindu, and the Catholics do not feel at ease with Hindu or Muslim forms of worship. Moreover, not everyone, whether Catholic, Hindu, or Muslim, is interested in the spiritual life. Some see their work as a paying job that gives them a certain social status and prestige. They do not all share the vision that gave birth to L'Arche. The development of some common forms of prayer seems impossible. Once one of the handicapped people went to his family home chanting "Oooooomm," the Hindu meditation chant he had learned at L'Arche. His father, a Muslim, was so disturbed that he immediately took his child out of the community. And yet something very beautiful is happening in India with L'Arche. The handicapped people are bringing people together who otherwise would never meet. They are truly a uniting force. Often we focus on the problems and difficulties that are so obvious and visible. But underneath it all, God, the God of all people, is doing something very beautiful through the little ones. Dorothy, one of the first Indian assistants, who has been at L'Arche in Madras for more than fourteenyears, is herself a true sign of hope. Her vibrant personality, her deep faith in God, and her commitment to L'Arche in India gives me a glimpse of the mystery of God's unifying work through the poor.

- To Be Continued - © Copyright Shalom 2015. All rights reserved.