For Jean Vanier’s immersion in the poor where joy is found, we owe him not just admiration but imitation

I first heard Jean Vanier speak when I was a 22-year-old seminarian. For many of my colleagues, he was a spiritual rock star, but that idolisation was a negative for me. I went to hear him speak with a certain bias: nobody can be that good! But he was!

Admittedly, that’s ambiguous. Talent and charisma can seduce us towards selfishness just as easily as invite us towards nobility of soul. Someone can be a powerful speaker and motivator without that charisma witnessing to that person’s integrity and without that seductiveness inviting anyone to what’s more noble inside him or her. But Jean Vanier’s person, message, and charisma, through more than 70 years, suffered no such ambiguity.