Some thoughts from "The Broken Body" by Jean Vanier :

"This way is open to us all.
Jesus calls some to leave everything
and to become beggars of compassion like St. Francis.
He invites others to leave their familiar surroundings
to share their lives fully with the poor and weak.
Still others, he calls to invite an elderly neighbour,
or a child with a handicap,
into their hearts and homes.
Jesus calls each one of us to go deeper,
and to be compassionate as he was compassionate.,
wherever we find ourselves,
and whatever our circumstances."

"It is then we discover
that we are the poor.
At l'Arche we might have come to serve the poor,
but we will only stay
if we discover that we are the poor,
and that Jesus came to announce the good news,
not to those who serve the poor,
but to those who are poor!
It is the broken ones who lead us
to our brokenness,
and to the knowledge that we need a healing saviour.
Thus they lead us to Jesus,
to healing,
to wholeness,
to resurrection."