The Sisters in Edmonton, Canada, tell us about the situation which has led them to put their beautiful summer cottage up for sale. Sharing their good memories of this beloved place, they explain how it is at once a “letting go” and a going forward in trust.

 

 

On a beautiful summer‘s day, July 29th, 2021, eight of us, Daughters of Jesus from Alberta, met on the shores of Lake Ste-Anne, to say goodbye to our beloved cottage. This year, only six of us were able to spend time there, so we decided to put it on sale this fall.

 

 

The chalet, built in 1966, has welcomed us, summer after summer, giving us a pleasant and quiet place for rest and relaxation.

 

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Praise and thanksgiving

 

We began with a time of prayer where we praised the Lord for the beauty and therapy of His creation. Then we shared our good memories as well as those where we had experienced challenges and fears. We remembered the moments sitting on the deck, with a good book, listening to the birdsong, the waves on the lake, or the breeze in the trees. We remembered filling our eyes with the beauty of a sunrise or a sunset, an electric storm, or a starry sky.

 

 

We expressed our gratitude for the good times spent with our families and friends, with Daughters of Jesus that we would see less often during the year, and also for times of solitude and retreat. We remembered sudden and furious storms, that sometimes left us without electricity, scared us on the lake in our little boat, or tore down large trees, close to us in the yard.

 

Going forward in abandonment and trust

After enjoying a good meal together, we found ourselves on the way back home, happy and at peace with this last farewell that is added to so many other “letting-go’s” that are part of this last stage of our lives.

 

 

 

“The time we are currently living in the Congregation leads us to face the reality of the fragility of the seed thrown into the earth which must die in order to give life. This situation allows each of us to live an exodus, a movement …”

(Acts of the General Chapter 2016, p.5)

 

 

Sr Gisèle Labonté fj

Edmonton, Canada