Françoise is welcomed into her new community.
To learn more about this community, check out a previous article: An Ecumenical Religious Community in Paris
I have recently been missioned to a community made up of Sisters belonging to four different Congregations, including a Protestant fraternity. We are all older religious, more or less fragile but still independent.
Until now, I have lived mostly in small communities, whereas here we are 20 in all, all retired but busy volunteering in a great variety of activities: pastoral, social, educational…How enriching it is to share the richness of this diversity of experiences in the parish, the diocese, the school, the local area, working with migrants, in literacy, school chaplaincy, prison etc.
A few days ago, we had a meeting of all the members of the community to welcome the two recent arrivals. I would like to share the poem written by one of the Deaconesses, the oldest member of the community:
[|”Today”
an everyday word
but there are “todays” that are festive
full of joy
days that open to the new!
Brand new are the days
of your arrival among us
for the grace of our living together.
As I thought of you,
I saw in my mind two messengers
carrying heavy baggage,
well-worn bags and cases!
Suddenly these were full of stars
shining brightly
and I understood that the bags
were weighted with all your years
of Service, Praise and Offering;
Then quiet music crept into my room:
“it is the unconditional YES Father
that you say in Jesus Christ”|]
