Louise Fleury
Do you want to change your life? (1)
"Man is a marvel of intelligence; he is equipped to make the world a better place."
Five minutes can change a life
Why not take five minutes a day to study [...] the deep riches of the human being? Positive aspects capable of transforming a life would emerge.
Five minutes of reflection per day helps to understand where the influences that affect us come from.
Through reflection, we can discover innate qualities, capacities to love, our capabilities of listening to others, of respecting them, of winning their friendship. We feel the need to open ourselves to others, to welcome them while protecting our personal freedom and respecting theirs. As we acquire the habit of reflection from the heart, we will feel more responsible, more confident in ourselves and in others, more solid, less solitary.
More and more, we have to think to escape the negative influence of others and the media. Five minutes a day will help to dominate these influences and will eventually lead us to find the path of balance and the assurance of our strength.
Five minutes a day is not a waste of time if we can gather enough energy in the palm of our hand to sow good around us for 24 hours.
Five minutes to rediscover our identity, our true image, to adjust our positive abilities and to silence the areas of disturbance is wonderful.
Excerpt from the “Collection Volontaires de Dieuˮ, Louis-Marie Parent, OMI
Do you want to change your life? (2) Having a goal in life
Do you want to change your life? (3) – Move Forward
Do you want to change your life? (4) Finding balance
What the Secular Institute allows us to experience
First of all, an interior life focused on Christ (Presence of God) and derived towards others (Being of service). These two anchors allowed me to live in fraternity the charity of Christ.
What beautiful moments experienced with companions who are as sympathetic as they are empathetic, to name a few who have preceded us in the afterlife: Annette, Lily, Catherine, Jeanne-d'Arc and Thérèse, but how many others who are still here with me today and allow me to live fraternity and solidarity in the present.
The Institute also gave me the chance to live with the Montagnais, which allows me to understand the demands of Indigenous peoples today.
For this, I say thank you to the Institute, but especially to the present and past leaders.
Claire Turcotte
Photo: Pixabay
What is dearest to me?
What is dearest to me is the love of Christ that I would never want to lose.
This love, life in the Church and in the Institute makes me discover it on a daily basis to then pass it on to my brothers and sisters. Moreover, my consecration, my adherence to the will of God lived in faith gives me an open outlook on the world. They open up great spiritual horizons for me.
The Eucharistic presence keeps me in union with Christ. It gives me the impetus to respond to the wants of the Lord.
This is what the Institute allows me to be.
Diana Sabourin
Photo: Pixabay
Living a consecrated secular life
When I live the attitudes of life, I live the Gospel, that is what Christ wants for me.
45 years ago, He called me to follow Him to live His message of love and announce Him in the mission.
Charity is so great and marvelous that it inspired Father Parent, the spirituality of 5-5-5.
I regularly take time to reflect on my quality of acceptance and forgiveness in daily reality.
I ask God to help me grow a little more each day in unconditional love and to always be in His presence. Thus, I intensely live the charity of Christ through the attitudes of life, being of service and artisan of peace in my milieu.
May the Lord help me to accomplish this beautiful mission. THANK YOU.
Ana Maria Sors C.
WHO IS HE? - Ch.1 - Father Louis-Marie Parent, O.M.I.
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Secular Institute |
Our founder
Father Louis-Marie Parent, O.M.I.
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CHAPTER 1 The Founder, Father Louis-Marie Parent, O.M.I. |
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The person |
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THE PERSON |
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IN PEOPLE AND IN ALL THINGS HE SOUGHT OUT THE POSITIVE FEATURES He saw and pointed out the good he discovered in the people he met and easily gave the benefit of the doubt. This characteristic, colored by his original personality, was undoubtedly a dominant trait of his being and of his life, perhaps even from his early childhood. HIS ABILITY TO RELATE TO PEOPLE WAS STRIKING. He took immediate interest in his visitors. Following a remark made to him in that sense, he said, “I learned over time. No matter who is before me, I search in his being, my eyes squinted, to discover a spark of talent deposited in him by God… each one is a treasure to be discovered. Even the worst people on earth have fire within them that can spark light and warmth in their hearts. All they need to kindle it is our attention, our sympathy and our empathy. He accepted people as they were and offered to accompany them if they so wished. He expected nothing in return. The welcome he extended to the families of his recruits was amazing. For him, they were almost part of the Institute. |
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HIS AVAILABILITY, |
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HIS HUMILITY, |
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HIS PRAYER LIFE, |
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HIS STORY
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HIS LISTENING… When I look back, I must admit that I was very daring. I never compared myself to others. I was faithful only to what God and the Blessed Virgin were dictating to me from within. I was hyperactive. My sense of humour allowed me to laugh with those who made fun of me… I would wake up during the night and would converse with God. I was almost always in his presence. I was in love, a love that lasted… One of the great graces I received from God was to love everyone and to tell them so. to be continued in chapter 2 (coming soon). |
I would stop to visit the people, listen to their stories and talk to them about God. I was interested in their spiritual life. I encouraged them to pray morning and evening and even while they were working… My passion was going after the lost sheep. I would go from one to the next. I tried to draw people closer to religion. I was especially pleased to visit those who didn’t practice their faith… I never passed by their homes without stopping. I would even visit God’s delinquents in the barn or in the fields... regardless of how they reacted. I was considered eccentric, unique, on the fringe of traditional pastoral ministry… I became known as one who was bold, insolent and unstoppable.
The call of God, missionary woman
I am grateful to Father Louis-Marie Parent, O.M.I., who was faithful to the Holy Spirit to found the Institute: The Oblate Missionaries of Mary Immaculate. It was a great leap of faith and a great challenge. The Institute has spread across the world.
I found what I was looking for: a consecrated life in the midst of the world, a spirituality centered on the charity of Christ and which materializes in a life of prayer that creates apostolic attitudes and inspires charity in action, the 5-5-5:
1. Presence of God, 2. Abstention from destructive criticism interior and exterior, 3. Abstention from useless complaint interior and exterior, 4. Being of service, 5. Peacemaker.
The second five “Abstention from destructive criticism interior and exterior” is for me a school of life, a path that invites me to a daily conversion by gazing in wonder on the presence of God, a positive gaze on people and events, and a benevolent look by being a servant and a peacemaker.
I felt lucky to have times of renewal that made a big difference in my life of faith. Team meetings are always a good way to develop my sense of belonging to the group and experience fraternity and sharing. Mary occupies an important place in my life and her example of interiority, availability and service inspire me.
I was able to realize my missionary desire that had been building in me since my childhood.
After my return from Chad, I studied theology, which made it possible to bring my commitments to life in the following thirty years in pastoral care with children and parents.
Many thanks to the Lord and to the Institute for all that I have received.
Georgette Normandeau
Photo: Pixabay
Moving Forward One Year at a Time
“We’re all the same age but not at the same time” sings Jacqueline Lemay.
What about adding one more year to our earthly life, only once a year since we came to earth?
Is it a drama or a path to pursue? Should we complain or give thanks? Of course, this brings changes. Isn't that what we've been going through since we were born?
Fortunately, we’re not stuck in the same place, otherwise our life would seem rather ugly to us. Each of us has gone through a lot of trials, sufferings and also enriching experiences. Yet we have always advanced one year at a time.
When I look at an ancestral home, I feel like entering it, knowing that it has a long history to tell and I let myself be instructed by its experience with great interest. Parts have been broken and repaired; it has changed its colours several times; decorations have been replaced but it remains on the same foundation, still solid and admirable while still inhabited. Isn't that what happens to us too over the years?
"Clouds float through my life, not to bring rain or storm, but to add colour to my sunset" (Rabindranath Tagore)
Janine Giguère, St-Jean-sur-Richelieu
Photo: Myriams-Fotos de Pixabay
I wish you time
Take the time to THINK, It is the source of power.
Take the time to GIVE, It's too short a day to be selfish.
Take the time to PLAY, This is the secret of youth.
Take the time to PRAY, It is the strength of women and men.
Take the time to MAKE FRIENDS, This is the path to happiness.
Take the time to LAUGH, It is the music of the soul.
Take the time to WORK, This is the price of success.
Take the time to LOVE and BE LOVED, It is a grace of God.
Take the time to READ, It's the source of knowledge.
Take the time to do CHARITY, This is the key to PARADISE.
Unknown author
Some good changes- Volunteers of God
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January 30, 2023 Subject: Some good changes in the coordination of the Associate group Volunteers of God Hello everyone, I am pleased to inform you of some good changes in the coordination of the Associate group Volunteers of God. As you know, since the departure of Rose Mathieu and France Robitaille, the Associate Group has been without a core team. Esther Acuña Rios had full responsibility for coordination, and she did it brilliantly. However, the task was enormous for her. During the last meeting of the Administrative Council on January 7 and 8, the Council approved some excellent changes in the coordination so that the Associate group Volunteers of God can continue to respond to the inner call to love and serve their fellow human beings in the way of Jesus and to make daily gestures of love towards others in Canada, the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia, among others. To do so, Violaine Couture will act as the French and English-speaking coordinator, Esther Acuña Rios will continue as the Spanish speaking coordinator and Françoise Lequarré, a member of the Administrative Council from the Europe region, has been appointed as the contact person for the Associate group Volunteers of God to replace Violaine Couture. There is already a good collaboration between Esther and Violaine, who have started to work together. The Administrative Council is convinced that these changes in coordination will breathe new life into and further energize Volunteer's presence on the ground. As Oblates, let us remain united with the Volunteers in order to spread our attitudes of life even further.
Denise Dubé
Phone: 819 375-7317 Fax: 819 691-1769 E-mail: ommi@ommi-is.org Web Site: www.ommi-is.org |
Lord, what do you want me to do?
This is a request that I made to Him even before I joined the Institute and that I still make regularly.
As soon as I entered the Institute, it allowed me to continue my studies in order to better carry out the work that gave meaning to my life and allowed me to respond to my desire to live my mission there and as the Lord wants, while remaining in the world.
The spirit of the charism responds well to my aspiration in how I can respond to what the Lord expects of me each day: constant availability to His will, living His love, being of service, following the example of Mary.
A reflection of Saint Ignatius of Loyola inspires me a lot in my being of service: “Put your trust in the Lord as if everything depended on you and not on Him, and give yourself over to action as if everything depended on Him and not on you.” So, the Lord asks me to do what I can and He does the rest...
The Institute is also the place where I experience daily the richness of collaboration and sharing. It allows me to discover the richness of different cultures, to open my heart to solidarity and mutual aid.
The annual renewal of my commitment by vows is, for me, a beautiful opportunity to give thanks to the Lord for the gift of His love, for it is He who has called me. May He give me the gift of always being faithful to this call and to His love.
Mariette Vallières
