SEPTEMBER 2017
The Eudists of New Brunswick: Emard Duguay, Ernest Dumaresq, Donat Gionet, Gabriel Friolet, Guy Loisel, Robert Boisvert met in September with Fr Ricardo Chinchilla Provincial Superior, for a few days of reflection. The meeting took place at the Motherhouse of the DAUGHTERS OF MARY OF THE ASSUMPTION in Campbellton, New Brunswick. Present were
When the sisters of Mary of the Assumption knew of our scheduled gathering, they took the opportunity to mark the 65th anniversary of the continuous presence of a Eudist chaplain in their Mother House.
We on our part, took advantage of this stay to remake the history of our Eudist presence.
They really wanted to highlight this occasion and so, they prepared posters recalling important milestones in the life of the convent; they searched an old photo album of all the Eudists who served as chaplains during these sixty-five years; they remembered the many Eudists who worked at the Mother-House. Among them Fathers Wilfrid Haché, Francis Coquereau, Joseph Potvin, Arcade LeBlanc, and Hector Comeau without forgetting the current chaplain, Father Robert Boisvert.
Every day during our Eudist gathering we celebrated the Eucharist presided by Father Provincial with the presence of all the sisters, which allowed them also to live a certain atmosphere of spiritual retreat. Each Eucharist was concelebrated by the group of Eudists serving in New Brunswick (2 were not able to make it), which also made each Eucharist a solemn occasion to celebrate and remember fond memories; Within this joyful gathering, the sisters proposed to celebrate the feast of Saint Jean Eudes to allow his vision of service and profound spirituality to question our own life and ministry. The gathering was intended primarily as a fraternal encounter and each day was like a feast, during our meals, we shared fraternally with the sisters who lived in the mother-house.
On the last day, we shared the Eucharistic celebration with the sisters at the Edmé Martin Pavilion, which is the Infirmary built two years ago, some 200 meters from the Mother-House. There were eighteen sisters.
THE GATHERING,
We took advantage of the first moments of our gathering beside the usual salutations, to share a bit
about our life and ministry and how we were dealing with the challenges of our missions, we took the time to listen attentively, as always, it was a deep moment of grace.
We took the rest of the day to meditate on the theme proposed in the General Assembly: "To form Jesus”. Father Provincial animated the meeting. He proposed two texts of Saint John Eudes. We shared a lot on this subject and we became aware of the depth of our spirituality and the strength it provides for our ministries. This surely motivated us to focus on the essential part of our mission and at the same time to challenge ourselves to deepen our efforts to form Jesus in us.
We took advantage in the evening to integrate this challenge in silent prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament, several sisters joined us for worship; This theme of forming Jesus, a New Testament “must”, reflected deeply by Saint John Eudes, when meditated in this context, became again so new and fundamental.
We also became aware in detail of the projects and motions that were drafted at the General and Provincial Assemblies ... We took a plenty of time to receive and dissect this information and now we can only express our admiration on the commitments proposed for the years to come.
We are aware that it is very important to continue to plan such gatherings despite long distances from one region to another, for example, the distance from Quebec to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, still, it is worth the effort. This formula of gathering gives us a fraternal and spiritual impulse for our ministries.
We are very grateful to the Daughters of Mary of the Assumption for having welcomed us with so much spirit of friendship, thanksgiving and appreciation for the Eudists and their pastoral leadership exercised during these 65 years; the feeling of appreciation and thanksgiving is mutual.
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