Thirty-six hours could change your life. Come join me, Brother Norman Hipps, OSB, and others on an adventure you’ll never forget!

A bus will depart Saint Vincent on Friday at 1:30 pm and take the first 35 students who sign up to Buckeystown, Maryland for a weekend in the autumnal splendor of the foothills of Sugarloaf Mountain and the scenic Monocacy River Valley.

There is no cost – the College will pay for your food, transportation and lodging. We ask those who sign up to pay a $20 deposit that will be refunded when we return to our campus late Saturday night (or early Sunday morning). We do this so that those who sign up are serious about attending the event I am about to describe.

Feature attraction? A man who stands in the company of Alexander Solyzhenitsyn, Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, and other winners of the prestigious Templeton Prize in Religion. He will be speaking in a series of talks Friday evening and Saturday. His name is Jean Vanier. In my opinion, he is one of the wisest, humblest, and holiest individuals of this age – and he can be pretty funny, too. He forsook the privileged life that was his right as the son of the Governor General of Canada and a gifted Naval officer to cast his lot with those who are developmentally-disabled, and for over 40 years, has never looked back. I know of no one other than the Pope – no one – who speaks with more persuasion about Jesus Christ and the path of love and peace than Jean Vanier.

I first met Jean in the mid-1980’s when I took a sabbatical from my work for U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield and spent a month in silent retreat at Jean’s first home for people whom the world would call “handicapped” but he called “friends and housemates.” The home was in France, in a small town called Trosly-Breuil, not far from where Joan of Arc was arrested (bonus question: where was that? First student who emails me with the correct answer gets a prize). It all began in 1964 when he and a friend who was a Dominican priest (and saint), Father Thomas Phillippe, became aware of the plight of the many who were institutionalized because of their developmental disabilities. He invited two men to leave their institutions and share their lives with him in a regular home, and he began to enlist others in the care of these individuals. He called the home, “L’Arche,” which is French for “The Ark.” Just as in Noah’s time the ark was a refuge from danger, so, too, was L’Arche a safe haven for those whose human dignity was endangered and degraded, as well as for those seeking to find meaning and purpose in life rather than conforming to the demands of a materialistic society.

There are now 130 L’Arche communities in the world. Young men and women like you choose to live in these communities with individuals with developmental disabilities and celebrate life. Jean Vanier has founded homes in India, the Middle East, Africa, and throughout the world. All the popes of his lifetime have praised his work and he has received countless honors and awards.

When Jesus taught those who sought him, Scripture often notes that the crowds were left “spellbound.” When I first heard Jean speak of Jesus and the handicapped, I was left spellbound. I was in his mother’s house in Trosly and he was speaking every Sunday night to the many young people who came to L’Arche to help those in need and help all to grow. He spoke with the authority that came with living the faith and contemplating it, and not just talking about it. I have replayed old retreat tapes of Jean Vanier over and over and over, and they are as relevant today as they were decades ago. He is the author of over a dozen books and is very well known in Canada, his native country, but because he doesn’t have a media firm promoting him and is himself averse to such promotion, his renown has spread by word of mouth. You may have heard of Henri Nouwen, one of the most popular spiritual writers of all time. Jean was Henri’s spiritual director and invited him to live the end of his life at L’Arche in Toronto, at Daybreak.

This may be one of the last times that Jean will be coming to America (God alone knows, but Jean is very content to stay in France and live his humble life). I have maintained a friendship with Jean for over 20 years and can speak from first-hand experience the following words: the words and witness of Jean Vanier can change your life for the better. He is funny, serious, insightful, merciful, and prophetic.

The title of the weekend is: A Path to Freedom: The Gospels of Jesus; Choosing Nonviolence and Love. There will be only about 150 people total at the retreat overnight, and they will range in age from 18-30. If you are interested, sign up with Katie in Campus Ministry or Jason in Student Life. First to sign up, first on the bus. You will have Sunday to study all day, so this won’t involve your whole weekend or bury you under upcoming exams.

I can’t wait to hear Jean Vanier and simply to be in his company. He will speak from the wealth of his experiences forming communities and helping people grow. If you live in a dorm, then you live in a community. You may find his advice very relevant to your daily life in the residence halls and your attitudes toward your fellow students. And if you want to marry or give your life in a way that will impact the world, then you need to learn about living peaceably in community, and there is no better teacher and example than Jean Vanier.

I leave you with some of his words in his book, Community and Growth:

There are more and more groups today oriented towards issues and causes. There are peace movements, ecological movements, movements for oppressed people, for the liberation of women, against torture, etc. Each movement is important…(and) can then radiate truth and inner freedom, and work towards justice and peace in the world. If not, they can become very aggressive and divide the world between oppressors and the oppressed, the good and the bad. There seems to be a need in human beings to see evil and combat it outside oneself, in order not to see it inside oneself. The difference between a community and a group that is only issue-oriented, is that the latter see the enemy outside the group. The struggle is an external one; and there will be a winner and a loser. The group knows it is right and has the truth, and wants to impose it. The members of a community know that the struggle is inside of each person and inside the community; it is against all the powers of pride, elitism, hate and depression that are there which hurt and crush others, and which cause division and war of all sorts. The enemy is inside, not outside.

We all belong to the universe; we all receive from it and give to it; we are all parts of the whole. The danger for people today is to forget that and to think that they are the centre; that everyone else is there for them. People must die to this form of destructive egoism and be reborn in love, where they learn to receive from others and to give to them.