Each year, the Daughters of Jesus of the Vice-Province of Three-Rivers (Canada) gather to celebrate years of religious life offered up to following Christ.

50, 60, 70, 75, 80… and even 90 years of gratitude to the fidelity of God. Day by day, He has guided these women, in their responses to numerous challenges, during so many years of commitment to the project of the Father’s Love.

Head filled with memories, these women retell the many stories of their past lives. They are the living memories of yesterday and of today of Christ’s call “Come and follow me.”

““I thank you Lord every day for the Life that you give me”.

“In active ministry or in retirement, incapacitated by illness perhaps, each one remains open to Life, engaged in and committed to and for the mission. They carry the concerns and the joys of humanity, its hopes and its doubts, uniting their sufferings and their own joys to those that exist in and by the world, to those where Jesus continues his Passion and Resurrection today”. (S. Ethel Greene, f.j.)

The recipe of their happiness? Remain active. Have a love of life. Have confidence in God…Love God and humanity. That is part of their secret.

Among the jubilarians of the Vice-province, Sr. Beatrice Naud was present. What was special about her was the fact that Sr. Beatrice is 109 years old and has been 90 years in religious life. There has never been another Daughter of Jesus to reach this longevity of consecrated life. “Embrace life with tenderness and passion”, is the witness that she leaves us.

In addition to the jubilarians of the Vice-Province, we had the joy of welcoming to celebrate their golden jubilee: Sr. Marie-Thérèse Quéré, Superior General, a few missionaries from the mission ad extra and one companion from the Vice-Province of Rimouski.

S. Colette Gélinas f.j.