A happy life is a life for others.

L'Arche is not a service institution or a group home. It is a community that exists to reveal God's love. Our people are given to the world to tell others about peace and forgiveness and celebration, to make them aware that in the midst of their brokenness, there is joy; in the midst of their wounded nature, there is healing.

Active waiting means present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it.

Who can take away suffering without entering it?

Community life is not easy for somebody like me, who is used to living by himself and doing what he wants. It's a demanding life, and you quickly get in touch with your own handicaps and weaknesses.

Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.

Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are.