This text is an interview that appeared in the newspaper, *Du Salève au Vuache* (Haute-Savoie department, France).

I was born in February 1947, four days after the Catholic Church established secular institutes. That date has remained etched in my memory and has accompanied and sustained me from the day I was born until the day a passage from Psalm 71 touched me deeply:

“Lord my God, you are my hope, my support from my youth.
You, my support even before I was born. You chose me whilst I was still in my mother’s womb.
You will always be my praise.”

… and I joined the secular Institute, The Oblate Missionaries of Mary Immaculate, 56 years ago.

After a busy career as a nurse in cardiology, orthopaedics and a pastoral care team, I am now continuing my work as a support worker for people with disabilities at the “Nous aussi” centre.

Every now and then, I organize a mountain walk for young and old alike, which we call, “Le goûter de Mado”!

Discreet about my affiliation with an institute of consecrated life, I was astonished when several people close to me, as well as a journalist, asked me: “But who are you? Can you explain what this strength within you is?”

My reaction was: So, can it be seen, felt, sensed?

Today, the older I get, the more I feel the presence of this heart-to-heart connection with the heart of God and the world, which animates me in my daily life, in the most ordinary of circumstances.

Feeling the revelation of this testimony invites me to continue this form of commitment.

It reminds me of the words addressed to secular institutes by Pope Benedict XVI:
“Be seeds of holiness, sown with open hands into the furrows of history.”

Mado Riggaz (France)

May 2026