- "envy is one of the plagues that destroys community. it comes from people’s ignorance of, or lack of belief in, their own gifts. if we were confident in our own gift, we would not envy that of others."
- "a community is only truly a body when the majority of its members is making the transition from 'the community for myself' to 'myself for the community,' when each person's heart is opening to all the others, without any exception. this is the movement from egotism to love, from death to resurrection; it is the Easter, a passage, a passover of the Lord. it is also the passing from a land of slavery to a promised land, the land of inner freedom."
- "to love, we must die continually to our own ideas, our own susceptibilities and our own comfort. the path of love is woven of sacrifice."
- a community is not simply a group of people who live together and love each other. it is a place of resurrection, a current of life: one heart, one soul, one spirit."
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2 comments:
jamie,
i hear you. i think the only thing that is as difficult as talking about community is living it. that being said, let me run my mouth for a bit...
the longer i live in community the more i realize the genius of l'arche. l'arche communities are centered upon the weak, disabled and infirm. this fact is reflected in their language, insofar as the disabled people in the community are called the "core members."
i think their practice and language is instructive, for it reminds us that the purpose of community is to call out the gifts of those who think they have none, reveal the beauty of those who have long considered themselves a blight, love the neighbor (especially those whom we previously would have neglected) as our own and speak life into those who are haunted by death.
this line of thought applies directly to sinners and saints, for, i believe, the health of our community is indicated by the quality of our love for our weaker brothers and sisters. if we love only those who love us and fit easily into our preferred cultural affinity group, we will fall far, far short of being the community of God (and probably become a mere clique). thus, we must focus a great deal of our love upon the poor, who desperately need our love and, irony of ironies, will ultimately help usher us into the Kingdom that is their possession.
admittedly, this line of thought not only applies to us as a community, but to me as well. for i am on the cusp of learning how to love and lead one of the poorer members of our community that can, admittedly, drive me crazy. thankfully, the girls (esp. brooke and kellie) in our community, are teaching me how to effectively and persistently love the poor in our midst.
I know this doesn't have anything to do with this posting, but how about some more "Brushback Pitches?" Wow. Am I shallow or what? Michael of TN
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