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transforming? The communities of L’Arche have a well-articulated spirituality that its founder, Jean Vanier, describes as a process of “interior liberation.” What is meant by this expression, and how is it experienced concretely by the men and women who live in L’Arche communities? Is there an observable pattern to this experience, and does this pattern have analogues in other relational contexts?
The second set of questions concerns how to understand the transformation process in L’Arche more clearly in psychological terms. What psychological categories and perspectives are most fitting in making sense of what is going on in the lives of persons who choose to leave their homes, families, professions, and careers to spend their lives with disabled persons in L’Arche? How do these psychological perspectives illumine the therapeutic possibilities of life in L’Arche and the kind of emotional supports needed to respond to persons in times of distress and to sustain long-term commitment in a lifestyle that is often physically, emotionally, and spiritually demanding? Most importantly, how does psychological insight into the experience of persons who serve in L’Arche contribute to the understanding of spiritual transformation in other communal, therapeutic, and ecclesial contexts? My approach to these questions reflects a long engagement not only with the exigencies of L’Arche but also with theoretical resources in personality theory that illumine the kinds of axiological and emotional changes that take place in relationships of communion.
The third set of questions brought to this experience of transformation is theological in character. As a religious community whose charter is inspired by the Beatitudes, L’Arche views covenant relationships with the biblically “poor” as mediating the presence of Christ and the Holy Spirit in a quasi-sacramental sense. It does not glorify disability or poverty but does recognize that those who are wounded and rejected bear a prophetic gift that is held up in both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament narratives as central to God's saving plan for humanity (Proverbs 21:13; Isaiah 58:6–11; Luke 4:18–19; Luke 6:20–26). Vanier's reference to the “sacrament” of the poor conveys the sense in which all persons who are marginalized and rejected, who are dependent and unable to