The person in misery does not need a look that judges and criticizes but a comforting presence that brings peace and hope and life and says: 'you are a human person: important, mysterious, infinitely precious, what you have to say is important because it flows from a humn person; in you there are those seeds of the infinite, those germs of love... of beauty which must rise from the earth of your misery so humanity be fulfilled. If you do not rise then something will be missing... Rise again because we all need you... be loved beloved.'
Jean VanierPeople cannot accept their own evil if they do not at the same time feel loved, respected and trusted.
Jean VanierPeople may come to our communities because they want to serve the poor; they will only stay once they have discovered that they themselves are poor.
Jean VanierAt the heart of the celebration, there are the poor. If [they] are excluded, it is not longer a celebration. [...] A celebration must always be a festival of the poor.
Jean Vanier