News
June 2021

From 2021-06-21 to 2021-07-21

TO GO FROM I TO WE

At the beginning of the last century, Venerable Delia Tétreault understood the importance of this synergy to work with one heart in the service of the Gospel. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, she supported the Bishops of the Canadian Church in the possibility of founding a seminary for foreign missions. Today we are happy to mark the centenary of this foundation by sharing some testimonies of a mission shared together.

In any journey, the important thing is to believe in the goal we want to reach, whether there is a pandemic or difficulties to face, we must move forward, join hands and walk together beyond divisions, racial or political conflicts. God is always at work! To walk according to our convictions, to cling to our dreams despite the social pressures that we may be subjected to from all sides. Say like Carole Guévin: I am here for you! Sowing joy and hope on the path of life. This is what the Priests of the Foreign Missions and the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception try to live every day in the mission that God has in store for them.

Together, we are in solidarity with one another to make our today the work of God.

From 2021-06-10 to 2021-06-20

Women fron here and abroad

A COMMUNICATIVE SMILE

I would have many delightful anecdotes to share relating my encounters with women of the world, often totally different from me by race, religion, language, culture. How to communicate when language stands between us? I found an irresistible recipe and it worked everywhere I went— the SMILE. On trains, in airports, on the street, I would try my recipe. First, I would seriously look at the person I wanted to approach. On both sides the expression was solemn and it remained as such as long as I, Sr. Huguette, kept it that way.

It’s the kind of attitude that says, “You are a stranger, I do not know you!” But gradually I allowed a smile to appear on my lips, my eyes reflected an interest, a wish to know her. At the same time I watched the smile appear on the lips of the stranger. The miracle would take place! The two smiles met, they became a welcoming sign, “I am your friend, do not fear!” Trust was established and grew. Parents, especially the mothers, always reacted positively when I would smile at their children and say, “What a lovely child! What a treasure!” They interpreted it as a compliment and of course it was. Everywhere I went this kind of approach has won me many profound and sincere friendships; they have enriched my life. Now, with the years that keep accumulating, I must stay “put” but the word “go” makes my missionary heart vibrate like a musical chord.

All those experiences made me understand that beyond the differences there are so many resemblances. We, women, sympathize spontaneously, because we understand each other, because all over the world women give LIFE, they nourish it, they keep it with a LOVE that is central to their own life. This love inspires the life of women; it drives them to a total gift of self from the cradle to the tomb. It is the greatest of all gifts, the one that will remain until the end, as St. Paul says, “Faith, hope and love remain but the greatest of these is love.” (1Cor.13.13)

 

A WELCOMING ATTITUDE

We know that the first victims of conflicts, wars, oppression, poverty, natural disasters creating so much suffering and deaths, are above all women and children. Every day, news media presents us horrifying tragedies. Sometimes I wonder if all these human dramas truly touch me or if I have become somewhat used to it, somewhat indifferent or blasé because I am not personally involved? I try to react by asking myself, “what if it were my brother, my sister, my child?” Developing a feeling of empathy towards the victims of human dramas, can help me extend a fraternal  helping hand and show my solidarity with those women who struggle through life.

This brings me to mention my sympathy for the refugees, the immigrants, for those who leave their countries searching for shelter or a better life elsewhere and all this for the love of their children, to assure a better future for the coming generations. Perhaps my personal experience in having had to adapt to new ways of doing in countries, so different from mine, made me realize how difficult it can be. I had the impression that I was beginning with zero knowledge. I had to learn everything: how to use the telephone, mail letters, calculate the value of money in my hand, get directions to go from one point to another, how to use public transportation or simply how to communicate with the neighbor whose language I didn’t know. From my experience, I can say that immigrants who begin a new life in an unfamiliar country undergo, for some time, a loss of dignity, autonomy, and self-confidence.

How comforting it is to receive a smile or a helping hand from a local resident. A cordial welcome is a sign of brotherhood/ sisterhood all over the world. I think of all the beautiful and friendly adventures I’ve had with immigrant families particularly with women, those selfless providers who must feed and clothe their children. What a shock it was, once, to meet an upper class personality searching for assistance— it was a humiliating yet necessary step for her to take.

In conclusion, I must say that I rejoice over the profound worldwide efforts that are made to help build cross-borders solidarity among the women of the world. Once again, notwithstanding their differences they are so much like us. They are women of heart!

 

From 2021-06-03 to 2021-08-27