Today, with Émilie, around the world
Saint Emilie de Villeneuve!
a woman who believed it was possible …
-
to commit one's life to following Jesus
-
to get involved in the construction of a fair and united society
-
to realize and realize this dream
This is how the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of Castres, the Blue Sisters, was born.
I was born in Toulouse, in the south of France in 1811.
From a very young age, what the poorest have been going through breaks my heart.
The privileged environment in which I grew up did not prevent me from seeing this reality made up of a lot of injustice and suffering...
God spoke to me through multiple voices… many questions arose in me: what does God want from me?
Time for discernment and prayer to know the way.
_cc781905-5cde-3194-bb5cfb-58d_bad
_cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ … to these voices, to a clear and deep call…
I told my father about my decision:
- “Father, it is for God that I leave you: “I want to serve the poor…”
On December 8, 1836, in the church of La Platé, in Castres, I realized my dream and I began, with two companions, the path of Soeur Bleue.
We want to live adeep and simple brotherhood, committed to Jesus the Savior in God's plan of love for the peoples.
God Alone will be the center of our life, not “me alone”.
Mary Immaculate will teach us to see reality, the world, others, with spotless eyes, as God sees them.
"It is for God that I leave you. I want to serve the poor."
Since Castres, the horizon has widened, the mission has diversified, the borders have been abolished...
At the Blue Sisters today my words still continue to resound: “Go where the voice of the poor calls you”. The missionary imprint that one day led us to African lands and pushed us to cross the sea to embrace America remains alive in them.
Today, they are present in :
Europe: France, Spain, Italy.
Africa: Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo.
America: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, Paraguay, Bolivia, Mexico, Haiti.
Asia: Philippines.
And today, the charism... the Blue spirituality is present in the fields of social, education, health... at all levels...
They know that:
_cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ that it will be about the salvation of souls, they will not run the risk of drifting away from their vocation”.
For this reason, today, they are present in the education sector, with the sick, peasants, indigenous people, in parishes, in working-class neighborhoods, involved in social projects, accompanying women, children , teenagers…*
This is how the charism received from the Holy Spirit becomes concrete.
The Spirit pushes them to go beyond their borders.
God continues to speak.
He continues to offer... He invites
les sœurs, les laïcs, very closely linked...
-
called to be co-responsible for the charism
-
work together on training and missions.
Jeunes et adultes se sentent interpelés
-
by the spirituality of the “blue family”
-
and assume the most diverse commitments. *
Young people discover the meaning of their life in religious vocation…
-
they come to live the Blue Dream, sharing the life of our communities
We give thanks for life, celebrate it and share it.
Aujourd'hui, avec Émilie, dans le monde ...
We are grateful for the life given until “the last breath is an act of love.”
DAKAR
18 - 22 September 2018
Provincial Chapter Assembly in Dakar...
GENERAL TEAM WELCOME
"MAKE THE APRON"
GABON/DRC
26 - 30 september 2018
REVISITING HISTORY
