Mark Riddle e-mailed me the following quote this past week. I think it's correct most of the time, and it certainly embodies water's edge these days:
"When a community is born, its founders have to struggle to survive and announce their ideal. So they find themselves confronted with contradictions and sometimes even persecution. These conditions oblige the members of the community to emphasize their commitment; they strengthen motivation and encourage people to go beyond themselves, to rely totally on Providence. Sometimes, only the direct intervention of God can save them. When they are stripped of all their wealth, of all security and human support, they must depend on God and the people around them who are sensitive to the witness of their life. They are obliged to remain faithful to prayer and the glow of their love; it is a question of life or death. Their total dependence guarantees their authenticity; their weakness is their strength.
"But when a community has enough members to do all the work, when it has enough material goods, it can relax. It has strong structures. It is secure. It's then that there is danger.... It can be tiring and even agonizing to live in insecurity.. but insecurity is one of the only guarantees that a community will go on deepening and progressing and remain faithful.
Jean Vanier, "Community and Growth"
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