How beautiful your works are Lord. How great your works are Lord. Lord, you fill me with joy.

2018 was a significant year in my life. It is the year I celebrated fifty years of commitment in the Insti-tute. At first, I was apprehensive because I have never enjoyed being in the limelight.

This year has been a precious year for me. I have come to under-stand that celebrating a jubilee has nothing to do with the person that I am.

I have learned that to celebrate a jubilee is to turn one’s eyes towards the One who created me with love, who chose me from all eternity, who set me aside and who walks faithfully with me.

To celebrate a jubilee is to take time to delight in ineffable joy and God’s mercy. Life is beautiful, life is great and spiritual life is the well of springing water that animates my whole being.

To celebrate a jubilee is to take time to revisit the years that have gone by to discover in them the common thread that has led me to this day. I cannot help but give thanks to the Lord for all these mar-vels!

I bless the Lord for his kindnesses. I thank Him for my family mem-bersand for the path of faith that they helped me to discover. I bless the Lord for having embedded the call in my being and for showing me the way so that I could respond to it. I bless the Lord for the Insti-tute of the Oblates for it teaches me to live daily in trust and the joy of the gift.

I bless Him for our beautiful spirituality which gives me concrete means by which I become a witness of love and peace day by day.

I bless Him for this beautiful fraternity that I experienced at all the cel-ebrations prepared with love, kindness and thoughtfulness by my companions, friends and family. My heart is so grateful for the ex-pressions of love that I have received. You have been a source of joy and happiness.
Thank you for the beautiful moments we have lived together, espe-cially for the warmth of your friendship.

Many thanks, in friendship, Germaine D.