On the 26th November 2016 we celebrated an event in BOGOTA that united us in giving thanks to the Lord, to the people of Colombia and to the many individuals who have accompanied us throughout these 50 years by offering us their welcome, their support and their friendship.

In the communities in Villavicencio and Cogua where we live out our mission, we also celebrated and gave thanks with the people on the 3rd and 10th December respectively. We are convinced that God continues to send us and to show his presence to us in the people that we meet.

We are grateful to Mgr Garavito who had the audacity to call the congregation of the Daughters of Jesus to come and sow its charism in the Colombian people.

The first to arrive were Sisters Madeleine (Georgette Nouet), Philomène Yannick, Thérèse Kerdat, Yvonne Le Meil and Thérèse Perot. The latter who is still with us, is a precious pearl, a treasure of experience and wisdom. Teresita continues to give of herself with simplicity and devotion.

The first Sisters arrived with little in the way of baggage but with their heads full of dreams. Their wish was that the charism which had animated the founders (to Honour the Sacred Humanity of the Son of God) should take root in Colombian soil.

Micheline Cormier, our Superior General, reminded us that 50 years of presence of the Daughters of Jesus in Colombia is a celebration that involves all of the congregation:

• 50 years of our family history written by the Sisters,
• 50 years that continue to be written by the Sisters present in the 4 communities in Colombia and in the community in Chile.

She and Irma, one of the general councillors, expressed their thanks in the name of the Congregation through a symbolic gesture, representing the hope that the flame of the religious life and the fire of the charism may continue to burn in Colombia today and throughout the whole world.

Sr Thérèse Perot lit a candle as a symbol of the transmission of the flame of the charism to the sisters of today and of the generations to come.

Sisters from Canada, France, Honduras, Haïti and Chile, as well as Associates, members of the Sisters’ families and friends came to celebrate this anniversary in solidarity with us.

We give thanks for all of the Daughters of Jesus who have spent many years in Colombia doing good and following Jesus.

May we continue to write the history of our religious family in the places of mission where we are sent to Honour the Sacred Humanity of the son of God.

Gelsomina Rodas Provincial Latin America