Resources on Spirituality in LArche: Ecumenical and Interfaith

The Spirituality of LArche Through its Words and Witness

A Resource for Community Prayer, Reflection, and Formation

Key elements of my faith or religious tradition...

The Spirituality of LArche Through its Words and Witness is a publication of the Spirituality Commission of LArche USA, 2010. To be used as a resource for community prayer, reflection, and formation.

ARTWORK : Cover Art, Francis (LArche Irenicon); p.5, Junior (LArche Dominican Republic); p.6 unknown artist; p.7 Stephen, (LArche Erie)

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Your community reflections and insights on spirituality. . . Introduction

The belief in the inner beauty of each and every human being is at the heart of LArcheand at the heart of being human We do not discover who we are, we do not reach true humanness, in a solitary state; we discover it through mutual dependency, in weakness, in learning through belonging. ( Jean Vanier, Becoming Human)

A Spirituality Ecumenical, Interfaith and Personal

From its first community, founded in France in the Roman Catholic tradition, many other communities have been established in various cultural and religious traditions. Today, faith life continues to be an essential element of all LArche communities, which may be rooted in a particular faith tradition or have an ecumenical or an interfaith character. Communities are respectful of the particular faith traditions of people who come to the community and seek to support members to deepen in their own faith experience and values, whether they situate themselves within or outside a religious affiliation. (LArche Federation website) Communities are either of one faith or inter-religious. Those which are Christians are either of one church or inter-denominational. Each community maintains links with appropriate religious authorities and its members are integrated with local churches and other places of worship. (Charter of the Communities of LArche, III.1.1) LArche was founded in a village in France in the Roman Catholic tradition. Today, the communities of LArche around the world reflect the predominant faith tradition or traditions of the local populations. In the United States, communities are typically inter-denominationally Christian and some are 10 3

inter-religious. All LArche communities welcome people of any or no faith, and respect and support its members in deepening their spiritual lives within or outside of a religious affiliation. (LArche USA website)

Words from core members about spirituality...

[LArche is] welcoming and open, the Communitys spiritual practices are valued and respected. . . .The Community recognizes and lives out its ecumenical and interfaith vocation. (Principles, Key Elements, LArche USA)

A Spirituality in Community
LArche communities are communities of faith, rooted in prayer and trust in God. They seek to be guided by God and by their weakest members, through whom Gods presence is revealed. (LArche Charter III.1.1) LArche Communities are communities of faith, rooted in prayer and trust in God. At the heart of these communities are people with developmental disabilities, and those who share life with them. (Constitution of the LArche Federation, 2.1) The Community has an obvious and active spiritual life. . . . The Community has spiritual accompaniment such as a pastoral minister(s). . . . There is a prayer life in each home. (LArche USA, Key Elements, Principles and Practices)

A Spirituality of Growing and Being on Journey Together

Each community member is encouraged to discover and deepen his or her spiritual life and live it according to his or her particular faith and tradition. Those who have no religious affiliation are also welcomed and respected in their freedom of conscience. (LArche Charter, III.1.1) The communities wish to provide their members with the means to develop their spiritual life and to deepen their union with and love of God and other people. (LArche Charter III.3.3) 4 9

Spirituality and Membership

[Members are expected] to receive community and spiritual accompaniment on a regular basis. Meditate regularly on the meaning of the Beatitudes and reflect on their significance in personal and communal life. Be supported in the process of considering and discerning the possibility of LArche as a vocation. May be invited to attend a LArche covenant retreat and explore announcing his/her covenant. (LArche USA Membership Document, 5.4.5)

Mutual relationships and trust in God are at the heart of our journey together. (LArche Identity and Mission Statement) LArche is committed to nourishing growth individually and corporately. By unmasking the illusions of our existence, we seek an authentic spiritual life. We need courage to reach out beyond the limitations of our fragile and finite existence toward ourselves, others, and our loving God in whom all life is anchored. (Identity and Mission Statement) The Community encourages its members to deepen their own spiritual life and live it according to their particular faith or tradition. (LArche Charter III.1.1)

Final Word
[Jean Vanier taught me] that LArche is built upon the body and not upon the word. This helps to explain my struggle in coming to LArche. Until now my whole life has been centered around the word. . .LArche, however, is built not on words, but on the body. The community of LArche is a community formed around the wounded bodies of disabled people. Feeding, cleaning, touching, holding - this is what builds the community. Words are secondary. Henri Nouwen (Quoted by Jurjen Beumer, Henri Nouwen,p. 150)

A Spirituality that is Open to the Gift of Unity in Solidarity

Communities recognize that they have an ecumenical vocation and a mission to work for unity. (LArche Charter III.1.3) Programs are in place to encourage greater solidarity and friendship between the communities of LArche in the Americas. Through personal visits, assistant exchanges, meetings, prayer, other avenues of communication, and financial support, LArche communities in Latin America and the Caribbean, the United States and Canada are growing in mutual understanding and relationship. (LArche USA website) The same sense of communion unites the various Communities throughout the world. Bound together by solidarity and mutual commitment, they form a worldwide family. (Charter of the Communities of LArche III, 2.3)

Ways to Use This Booklet

During times of personal and community prayer and reflection. For times of accompaniment and conversation with your companion. For personal and community formation in the spirit of LArche. For helping your community develop its own statement on spirituality.

A Spirituality Shaped by the Values Learned through Life Together

L'Arche communities are places of hope. Each person, according to his or her own vocation, is encouraged to grow in love, self giving and wholeness, as well as in independence, competence and the ability to make choices. (LArche Charter, III.3.1) LArche USA gives witness to the vision that people of differing intellectual capacity, religion, and culture can come together in unity, faithfulness and reconciliation. While some of our communities were founded in the Roman Catholic Church tradition, today LArche USA communities are ecumenical and welcome people of all faiths. (LArche USA, website) LArche communities are communities of faith, rooted in prayer and trust in God. The spirituality of LArche is grounded in the belief that each person is unique and of sacred value, and that we experience Gods love through mutual friendships in which the gifts and weaknesses of each person are recognized and accepted. (LArche USA website) Celebration: LArche celebrates life, LArche, the signs of hope in the world, and God, the source of all life. LArche also identifies and affirms the presence and gifts of its members as a form of celebration. (LArche USA Constitution) Inward Simplicity: Transform all our words and actions into conversations with God, not in a contrived manner but out of the purity and simplicity of our hearts. Welcome silence as an opportunity to listen, adore and praise. (LArche USA Constitution, Article I r.) Outward Simplicity: In LArche we seek to live our lives together in simplicity and peace, with generous hearts and gentle spirits, and with the intention to share what we have, our economic and material wealth, with compassion and justice, grateful for all that we receive from God and from one another, with care and respect for all of Gods creation. (Key Elements, Principles and Practices) 6

A Spirituality Rooted in Friendships and Covenant Relationships

Home life is at the heart of LArche community. The different members of a community are called to be one body. They live, work, pray and celebrate together, sharing their joys and their suffering and forgiving each other, as in a family. They have a simple life-style that gives priority to relationships. (LArche Charter III.2.2) Persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities, through their own vulnerability, often have a special gift for touching our hearts. They invite us into relationship and into revealing our humanness. By creating communities where people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities enjoy such mutual friendship, LArche seeks to live the Beatitudes Jesus call in the Sermon on the Mount to be people of simplicity, gentleness, compassion, justice and peace. (LArche USA website) Covenant relationships are essential to the spiritual journey of LArche. (LArche USA, Key Elements) Covenant in LArche is a way of the heart. It is a relationship of love, of trust, of mutuality that we discover and live in LArche with all the members of our communities, woven between our hearts by God. Covenant is lived out in the concrete reality of each day. The people with disabilities are at the heart of this reality living their covenant in LArche. (A Covenant in LArche, LArche International) The spirituality of LArche defines our priorities and shapes our way of life. This spirituality becomes covenant when we become conscious through relationships in community that we are in LArche because God has called us there; it is a gift of God, a call to fidelity, a sacred reality; it defines our mission. A sense of covenant flows from the spirituality that we are living day by day. (A Covenant in LArche) 7