From a Pyramid to a Body

All groups, all societies, are built on the model of a pyramid:

at the top are the powerful, the rich, the intelligent.

They are called to govern and guide.

At the bottom are the immigrants, the slaves, the servants,

people who are out of work, or who have a mental illness

or different forms of disabilities.

They are excluded, marginalized.

Here, Jesus is taking the place of a person at the bottom,

the last place,

the place of a slave.

For Peter this is impossible.

Little does he realize that Jesus came to transform

the model of society

from a pyramid to a body,

where each and every person has a place,

whatever their abilities or disabilities,

where each one is dependent upon the other.

Each is called to fulfill a mission in the body of humanity

and of the Church.

There is no “last place.”

Jesus, revealing himself as the least one in society,

the one who does the dirty jobs,

the one who is in the last place,

calls his followers to be attentive to the least in society.

God is not out of reach, in the skies.

God is hidden in the “heavens” of the hearts

of all those who are in the last place.

The gospel message is the world upside down.

Jean Vanier, the founder of L’Arche, an international network of communities for people with intellectual disabilities.