Community and Growth

Front Cover
Paulist Press, 1989 - 331 pages
If you've ever thought about community, whether as a lifestyle or simply as an expression of deeper fellowship with others, this book is essential reading. In the fifteen years since it first appeared in English, it has become the classic text on the subject -- read, dog-eared, borrowed, and discussed.Vanier is not a rosy idealist. That is because his writing is based not on theories, but on a wealth of wisdom gleaned over many years living in community, experiencing difficult days and joyous celebrations, times of struggle and hard-won success, moments of doubt and inspiration. He acknowledges the inevitable little frustrations of a life lived with and for others, but he also helps the reader see that without struggle there is no true growth.

From inside the book

Contents

IV
13
V
18
VI
20
VII
24
VIII
25
IX
31
X
35
XI
38
LXV
173
LXVI
174
LXVII
177
LXVIII
181
LXIX
182
LXX
183
LXXI
185
LXXIII
189

XII
41
XIII
42
XIV
44
XV
47
XVI
49
XVII
50
XVIII
55
XIX
61
XX
64
XXI
66
XXII
68
XXIII
72
XXIV
76
XXV
78
XXVI
79
XXVII
82
XXVIII
84
XXIX
85
XXX
88
XXXI
90
XXXII
93
XXXIII
95
XXXIV
97
XXXV
98
XXXVI
101
XXXVII
104
XXXVIII
108
XXXIX
109
XL
113
XLI
115
XLII
118
XLIII
120
XLIV
126
XLV
128
XLVI
131
XLVII
134
XLVIII
139
XLIX
141
L
142
LI
143
LII
144
LIII
149
LIV
152
LV
155
LVII
157
LVIII
158
LIX
160
LX
161
LXI
162
LXII
165
LXIII
169
LXIV
171
LXXIV
194
LXXV
195
LXXVI
199
LXXVII
203
LXXVIII
205
LXXIX
209
LXXX
212
LXXXI
216
LXXXII
218
LXXXIII
221
LXXXIV
224
LXXXV
227
LXXXVI
229
LXXXVII
231
LXXXVIII
236
LXXXIX
238
XC
240
XCI
247
XCII
249
XCIII
250
XCIV
251
XCV
253
XCVI
254
XCVIII
255
C
256
CI
260
CIII
261
CIV
262
CV
265
CVI
270
CVII
272
CVIII
273
CIX
274
CX
280
CXI
282
CXII
283
CXIII
284
CXVI
288
CXVII
290
CXVIII
297
CXIX
300
CXX
302
CXXI
303
CXXII
304
CXXIII
307
CXXV
313
CXXVI
322
CXXVII
325
CXXVIII
328
CXXIX
329
Copyright

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Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 45 - A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
Page 127 - If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
Page 93 - I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians...
Page 34 - Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
Page 71 - If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.
Page 301 - Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
Page 7 - Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Page 49 - For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Page 58 - Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common.

About the author (1989)

Jean François Antoine Vanier was born in Geneva, Italy on September 10, 1928. He studied at the Royal Naval College and spent time with both the British Royal Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy. In 1945, after the liberation of Paris, he spent part of a military leave at the Gare d'Orsay in Paris helping the Canadian Red Cross receive survivors of concentration camps. He resigned his commission in 1950. He spent several years living in a contemplative community near Paris. He received a doctorate from the Catholic University of Paris in 1962. He taught philosophy for a time at the University of Toronto. He founded two worldwide organizations for people with developmental disabilities called L'Arche and Faith and Light. He wrote more than 30 books including An Ark for the Poor and Becoming Human. He received the Paul VI prize in 1997 and the Templeton Prize in 2015. He died from thyroid cancer on May 7, 2019 at the age of 90.

Bibliographic information