Dear Faith and Light family, we have recently lost our beloved Jean. After ninety years of life, Jean has passed into the arms of God, Father and Mother forever, into a celebration that will never end—a feast to which we are all invited to participate one day. This happened during the season of Easter, when we were called to walk with the passion and death of Jesus. Yes, God raised him up! And from that moment on, those of us who follow Jesus have held a new hope: death is not an ending, but the beginning of a new life. God loves us beyond our death, beyond our very existence. We may grieve Jean's death, the loss of a dear person, a friend. We can imagine the disciples felt the same when Jesus was judged and condemned to die on a cross. We can enter into their feelings: fear of persecution and the cross, uncertainty about the future, loneliness, abandonment, despair, lukewarmness, distance from God. Yet we can also imagine the immense joy those disciples felt when they began to experience the Resurrection of Jesus—first his mother Mary, who was the first witness to this event, then Mary Magdalene and the other women, Peter and John, who saw the open tomb, the other disciples, and even Thomas, who had to place his fingers in Jesus's wounds to believe. Then joy spread through their hearts, and they discovered a hope, a peace, a faith they had never known before. Rather than leaving them paralyzed, this new life gave them missionary fire. It opened doors and windows, sent them out into the streets, to other cities and other lands to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel.
We are all called to something similar today. The same Lord Jesus Christ who filled Jean's life wants to fill ours, and he continues to knock on the door of our hearts. The same Jesus who called Jean invites us each day to follow him. The same Spirit who breathed in Jean's heart breathes in ours. What matters is that all of us, like Jean and the disciples of Jesus, open our hearts so that he can fill them. From there, a new joy and new hope will be born. A renewed peace will grow in each of us and in every Faith and Light community.
Imagine what would have become of those first disciples—frightened, drowning in endless sorrow. But the Spirit encouraged them, pushed them forward, kept pushing! And so it has been for centuries, right down to today. Now we must listen more carefully than ever to the breath of the Spirit, to the whisper of God's Word, to the seemingly small gestures of the risen Jesus in our midst. It is our turn now to row this great boat called Faith and Light and to keep believing that Jesus is here with us, guiding us. He may seem asleep, but he is here. When we are gone, others will come to row in our place—those who follow Jesus, those who set their hands to work, those who raise the sails.
May Jean intercede for us.
United in Jesus.
Original French version
Dear Faith and Light family,
We have very recently experienced the death of our dear Jean. After living ninety years, Jean has passed into the arms of God, Father and Mother forever, into this celebration that will never end and to which we are all invited to participate one day. This event took place during the season of Easter when we were invited to walk with the passion and death of Jesus. Yes, God raised him up! And from then on, those of us who follow Jesus have a new hope: death is not an end, but the beginning of a new life. God loves us beyond our own death, beyond our own existence. We can be saddened by Jean's death, by the loss of a dear one, a friend. We can imagine it was the same for the disciples of Jesus when he was judged and then condemned to die on a cross. We can think of their feelings by making them our own: fear of persecution and the cross, insecurity about the future, a sense of loneliness, abandonment, despair, lukewarmness, distance from God.
We can imagine the immense joy that his disciples felt when they began to experience the Resurrection of Jesus: first his mother, who was the first witness to this event, then Mary Magdalene and other women, Peter and John, who saw the open sepulcher, the other disciples, and even Thomas who had to place his fingers in Jesus's wounds to be able to believe. Then a new joy spread in the hearts of all and they discovered a hope, a peace, a faith they had never experienced before. Far from remaining shut in together, this new life gave them a missionary impulse, opened doors and windows to go out into the streets, to travel to other cities, other countries to announce the Good News of the Gospel. It is something somewhat similar that we are all called to live today. The same Lord Jesus Christ who filled Jean's life and wants to fill ours continues to knock at the door of our hearts. The same Jesus who called Jean is the one who invites us every day to follow him. The same Spirit that breathed in Jean's heart is the one that breathes in ours.
Therefore, what matters is that each of us be able, like Jean and the disciples of Jesus, to open our hearts so that he can fill them. And then, a new joy and new hope will be born, a new peace will grow in each of us and in each Faith and Light community. Can we imagine what would have happened if the first disciples of Jesus had been seized by fear, drowned in eternal sadness? But the Spirit encouraged them, pushed them, and kept pushing! And so, for centuries and centuries, until today. And it is now that we must be more attentive than ever to the breath of the Spirit, to the whisper of the Word of God, to the apparently insignificant gestures of the risen Jesus in our midst. Because it is now our turn to row in this great boat of Faith and Light and to continue to believe that Jesus is here and guides us. He seems to be sleeping, but he is here. When we are no longer here, there will be others who will continue to row, those who will follow Jesus, those who will set to work, those who will raise the sails!
May Jean intercede for us.
United in Jesus.
