In the April all age service we showed a clip of Jean Vanier. A three minute clip where Jean Vanier talks about his first steps into L’arche can be found here

The following excerpt from Martha Bala who lived and worked with Jean Vanier.
How to convey the essence of this physically and metaphorically giant of a man, who reaches out directly and without ceremony, to touch each of us in the place we feel most vulnerable, with acceptance and love? How is he able to do this, without our fragile selves closing up in fear, panic and rejection of his approach? How is it that people of all sizes, shapes, colours, races, origins, nationalities and beliefs are touched by him, and drawn to him, and feel understood by and close to him?
Vanier touches others at the level of the heart, disarmed of force, with tenderness and humility. His ability to be present to the wound within each of us is the fruit of a lifetime of fidelity to prayer. This gift has been further honed through hours of attentive and faithful listening – to the cry of the rejected and voiceless, to the pain of others’ lives, to the yearnings of his own heart and to the tenderness of Jesus, his beloved.
Jean takes Jesus seriously. Not the Jesus of dogma and church rules, but the living breathing Jesus with whom he walks, whose invitation he accepted and encourages all to accept, to “Come, and see.”

Find more information about him here