“Jean Vanier had a gift for transforming limitations, criticisms and blockages into challenges to be viewed with excitement and a certain peace.”* His open-mindedness and curiosity continue to define him. He is not afraid of new things, nor is he afraid of differing opinions. He says, “I sense that my vocation today is more about the message than community.”** It is a message he transmits with a contagious spirit, sincerity, and optimism. Still today, when his age could be used as an excuse to withdraw into his certainties and routine, he continues to enter relationships in order to question, challenge, and stimulate, especially among young people, during innumerable Katimavik (Inuit name for meeting place) experiences, conferences, and retreats. These young people listen to him and understand him.

"By failing to conform to the usual prescribed definitions of either State-recognised institution or Christian community, L’Arche had been a sign of contradiction since its very inception.”*** In his choices, Jean has continually followed his intuition and the advice of his spiritual guide. If L’Arche cannot be easily classified, it is a reflection of its founder, a non-conformist willing not only to defend his positions but also to accept the consequences of his actions. In the church, in society, in his own life, Jean Vanier is seeking a new way, transformation, and an openness to the prophetic voices of our time. He is still pushing the limits.

*Kathryn SPINK, The Miracle, the Message, the Story: Jean Vanier and l’Arche, 2006, Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd., London, p. 253

**Ibid., p.265

***Ibid., p.251