Happy 224 birthday dear Emilie!
Birthdays are special! When birthdays of our deceased loved ones occur, we remember them fondly and give God thanks for their influence in our lives. Perhaps you, as I, will use the occasion to converse with our loved one. This year, on the 224th birthday of our beloved Emilie Tavernier-Gamelin, I am sure my conversation with her will have some new elements. It might be something like this:
Dear Emilie, Happy 224th Birthday to you!
It’s Karin, your daughter. Remember me? You have always been special to me since I learned about you and Mother Joseph from my grade school and high school teachers. I saw their love for you and your influence in their lives as they reached out to the poor, the sick, the people most in need including students and their families. You and Mother Joseph have been true heroes for me and for all of us. Being called by Providence to follow Christ in your footsteps has been such a blessing in my life. Its challenges have provided me the opportunity to grow in love of God and neighbor beyond my expectations.
Your birthday this year brings me special gratitude for this opportunity to draw ever closer to you as I step into the special role of Vice-Postulator of your Cause for Canonization. Since arriving back in Montreal, I have been immersed in the details of your life so eloquently stated in the Positio prepared by Sister Therese Frigon, SP in 1989 and submitted to the Congregation for Causes of the Saints.
Knowing you not only through your extraordinary life but also through the letters you wrote, and the letters written to and about you, is truly an enlightening experience. The footnotes of the Positio contribute even more to your life story and demonstrate the expanse of your influence as a laywoman and then as a woman religious. I have read other writings about you throughout the year, but the Positio is touching and is inspiring me in even more profound ways.
I am humbled to be sitting in the office occupied for so many years by Sister Yvette Demers, s.p., my cherished friend, and to be doing research in the Emilie Gamelin Cause Archives at the same desk that Sister Therese used for so many years. I can imagine that you and Sister Therese welcomed Sister Yvette to heaven with a warm and well-deserved embrace!
I am relying on your prayers and those of Sisters Yvette and Therese as I begin this ministry. Please pray for the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit as we seek to make you and your ministries well known and imitated on behalf of those whose needs are not met in our society, especially those who are poor in body, mind, and spirit. Intercede for us in our collaborative efforts with the Archdiocese of Montreal, our Postulator in Rome, and the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints (formerly called “Congregation”) as we navigate the complex steps leading to your canonization.
Bless our sisters and all who are praying for the advancement of your Cause and our colleagues at the Providence International Centre who have been so supportive. We are eager for the universal church to know you and to be inspired by your Spirit of loving service for those in need and to see Christ in them as you did.
Lovingly in Providence,
Karin Dufault, SP