"Jean continued to grow in his calling as he learned how to relate to the brokenness of those around him. He came to realize that the weak are often despised and rejected and that this was the story of slavery as well as that of those who are sick or disabled. He came to think that people crushed in their childhood or youth often take revenge on the weak. Living with people who have been crushed led Jean into the depths of his own heart and revealed to him God's plan for humanity — to restore freedom to the weak and the oppressed. We were created for wholeness and communion with God and others. Jean put it this way: 'Human persons can freely enter into relationship with God. They can speak together. They can rest in one another. They can celebrate together.'

Learning Our Own Brokenness

"Jean learned that the disabled can help us come to love ourselves and others in our brokenness. 'They reveal to us the brokenness that we deny in ourselves.' Jean had come to this work with the disabled from a background that taught him to compete and be first, to be independent and successful. Being with the disabled freed him from hardness of heart, from the lack of capacity to respond to those crying out to him for friendship. He learned that behind his need to win were fears of being pushed aside, of being vulnerable, of feeling helpless in the face of those in need. He began to get in touch with the darkness and even hatred in his own heart, his capacity to hurt the weak. Jean had to face the elitism and prejudices within himself, and realized that he needed to be freed from these evils in his own heart. Being in community with the disabled helped Jean to know that he too was loved just the way he was and that they could help him heal his inner wounds. Jean puts it this way:

" 'I do not have to pretend that I am better than others and that I have to win in all the competitions. It's O.K. to be myself, just as I am, in my uniqueness. That, of course, is a very healing and liberating experience. I am allowed to be myself, with all my psychological and physical wounds, with all my limitations and with all my gifts too. And I can trust that I am loved just as I am, and that I too can love and grow.'

"Jean's faith also told him that Jesus came to reveal the kingdom to the poor, and he was now one of the poor. He, like those around him, was discovering that 'God is present in the poverty and wounds of their hearts.'

Jesus as Model

"Jesus served as the central role model for Jean's life with those with special needs. He saw Jesus as the truly free man: free from his culture, from the corruptions of his own religion, from the fear to criticize those who abuse, free to talk with and heal outcasts, to rise above the law and heal on the Sabbath. He writes: 'Yes, Jesus is an incredibly free man who cannot be pinned down, labeled or put in a box. He confines himself to no specific group, whether political or social, national or religious. He is free to do the work of his Father and to announce to every person, whoever he or she may be, that he loves them. . . . He is free with the freedom of God.' This was the Jesus who became the role model for Jean in his life and work. Like Jesus, he did not want to have any barriers around his heart, so that he could feel the vulnerability, anguish and rejection of his people and could bring healing love and compassion into their lives. He would live with them in their brokenness, listen to them, learn from them and together seek God in their weakness and anguish. Sometimes this meant taking their abuse and even violent outbursts but showing them forgiveness, rather than the judgment and rejection to which they were accustomed. The disabled would teach him that to follow Jesus one must give up going up the ladder of success and power and walk down the ladder to be with the people who are in pain.”