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News inserted on 24/08/2016

A journey of a lifetime ...

… from the island nation of Fiji in the South Pacific to the Caribbean nation of Jamaica where I have the privilege of working among our people of Jamaica for the last eleven years.

I travelled with our Jamaican Marist Young Adults to Lyon, France, where we joined the Marist Family with 500 young people from all parts of the world. For the next seven days we prayed, shared, sang, played and danced with ONE HEART & ONE SOUL. There was so much LOVE & JOY in being together and meeting new family members for the first time. We all experienced vibrancy and energy in our multi-coloured faces in that big gym where we gathered each day. It was like God had spread His Rainbow Blessing over us. The DREAM of Fr Colin for the Marist Family is a Tree with its FIVE branches became for me a “RAINBOW TREE”.

A highlight for me was when we went by bus to Ste Foy-Les-Lyon where we were warmly welcomed by our Sisters. This was our first house in Lyon built as the Novitiate to train Sisters for the Missions. For me this was the House that trained Sisters like Mary Leatitia, Mary Gaetan, Mary Eustelle, Mary Clement to name a few, who impacted my life so deeply that I later became one of them. It is now the home for our returning missionaries, Sisters who have spent a big part of their lives, some 50, 60 or more years in the missions of the Pacific or Africa. Most of them are in their 90s; two are over 100 years-old and still have ‘sparkles’ in their eyes as they speak of their missions. 

Our SMSM group continued the journey to La Neylière to visit Fr Colin’s home for the last 20 years of his life. A deep sense of gratitude swelled up in me as I walked through his holy abode. It was through this great man that our order came to birth, that our people of Fiji received the Faith and that today we could boast that the Faith took deep roots in the hearts of our people of the South West Pacific. This day was the most memorable and emotional day for me.

The culmination of my JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME was the Eucharistic Celebration at the Basilica of Our Lady of Fourvière on Saturday, 23rd July, exactly 200 years after the Pledge of Fourvière. The church was filled and overflowed into the crypt. Everyone joined together in thanking God and Mary for the countless blessings received during the 200 years of the life of the Society of Mary with its five branches. “FOR THE GLORY OF GOD AND THE HONOUR OF MARY” WE HAVE TAKEN THIS JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME.

Sister Teresia Tinanisolo smsm

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