'The Pattern of Crises'

'There are accidents, illnesses, depression and difficult times that force a person to rediscover in himself resources that have remained hidden. There are also crises which give rise to guilt or to a growing malaise in a person’s heart or conscience. They cannot bear the fact that they have had an abortion or an extra-marital sexual relationship, or that they have lied or been entangled in some form of corruption. Guilt is like a cancer which eats away at a person internally, making joy and openness impossible, standing in the way of communion and sometimes of cooperation. Then one day there is an explosion. The malaise has become too great; it turns into a cry to rediscover communion, openness, honesty. There is a strange law at work in these situations. The person is almost forced to do more and more stupid things so that one day the truth emerges and he is freed from his secret guilt. When it comes to doing things that are evil, corrupt and dishonest, there seems to be no half way house. We have to keep going a bit further.'

- Jean Vanier, Our Journey Home, p. 160