Sunday, January 06, 2008

truth (?)

God is hidden in suffering. The great gift of God to humanity is that Jesus is present in the sacrament of the poor.

This is a true sacrament, and like all sacraments, It is a question of believing in this mystery. The tragedy is that the world doesn’t know that the poor are a sacrament. They (do not) see the poor as those who arrange and bring order. That is why the rich, the “have’s,” remove themselves far from the poor. They don’t see the poor as the sign of God, as sacrament, as the presence of God-with-us, as those who will free us, heal and illuminate us, as those who will bring the interior unity we crave, lead us into the heart of God.

Jesus came to serve the poor. So he became poor. The good news is announced not by the one who serves the poor, but by the one who becomes poor.

- Jean Vanier

(as published in Geez Magazine, Spring 2007)

3 comments:

Zac said...

this is a brilliant quote. have you read much of Vanier?

Z

bre said...

nope. would like to though. have any books i can steal?

Zac said...

I actually don't either, but I have been wanting to read some of his stuff for a while now. Maybe we'll have to resurrect the Book Club. :) I suppose we'd have to finish Julian first!

Z