In memory of Paulette’s life

On the 8 September, feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, we gathered together to celebrate the Eucharist – with you dear Paulette. We came together to accompany you with our prayers and the prayers of all those whom we represent.

In memory of Paulette’s life

– 8 September 2009 –

On the 8 September, feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, we gathered together to celebrate the Eucharist – with you dear Paulette.  We came together to accompany you with our prayers and the prayers of all those whom we represent.

First of all, two of our sisters came from Rome: Maria Carmen Vilardell and Carmen Leach.  Maria Carmen came to represent Margaret Muldoon, our General Superior and the Council and the entire Family of Pierre Bienvenu Noailles.

Maria Carmen spoke very simply and very movingly as she bade goodbye to our Sister Paulette.  It was a goodbye that was charged with love and gratitude for all that Paulette has been for all of us and for the whole Family.  Among other things Maria Carmen said the following:  Paulette carried out a great deal of important research in a spirit of great love for our Founder and for the whole Family. She shared her work with us in a spirit of true communion.

She helped us to come to know our history at a deeper level and to understand our own particular path in the Church and the world today.  Thank you Paulette for your work, for the joy you brought to our meetings and above all for your life.  You were a true sister to all of us, always seeking to build up communion.  Thank you Paulette!

As we remember you Paulette, we give thanks for your journey towards fullness of life; we give thanks for the witness of love that you gave us – love of God and unconditional love for the Good Father and for the Holy Family, and for your passion for the Word of God and for the Church.

We remember you and we thank God for the milestones in your life:
Your work as a teacher and catechist,
Your service as regional superior
Your animation of the lay associates of the Holy Family
Your pastoral work with priests and lay people, encouraging a sense of greater responsibility among the laity in the Church,
Your work in Rome as Postulator of the Founder’s cause, on behalf of all the countries in the world, wherever our sisters are living and working.
One cannot forget all the research you carried out for the Institute and finally we recall your presence in the community of Toulon. 

Deeply rooted in the spirit of the Holy Family, Paulette had a great love of life, which she lived to the full and she communicated this life to others.

In a letter that she wrote to me recently, she said the following: “I wish to thank all the personnel of this house, including Christina and the sisters in the community as well as all the sisters of the Holy Family who have supported me by their affection and their prayers”.

Filled with joy to know that her book on Amand Noailles was at last in print, she wrote: “Several sisters have written to me to tell me of their discovery of the Little Father and that has made me very happy”

I am sure that Heaven’s door is open wide to receive Paulette and that the Good Father and the Little Father have welcomed her joyfully.

Yes, she has now entered fully into the heart of the Holy Family and I am sure that she will intercede for us in the presence of Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
 
I would like to share a text with you – one that she herself sent me from Toulon.  It is a poem by Rita Bonnat, one of our Founder’s closest collaborators.  It is called the Gaze of Jesus.  I like to think that during her life, Paulette was aware that the Lord’s gentle gaze accompanied her during her pilgrimage here on earth.

The Gaze of Jesus 

When my heart is filled with sadness
When I seek in vain for peace
I hear words of ineffable tenderness:
Have you understood the gaze of Jesus?

Have you understood the infinite sweetness
Of this loving gaze
Reminding you of the love and the suffering
Of your Saviour, your beloved Jesus?
 
This loving look transformed an unfaithful apostle
Into a generous saint;
Magdalene, too, who is our model
Was converted by the gentle gaze of Jesus.

This loving look revives my soul
Restores to me the good things that I have lost,
Bestows on me heavenly treasure that will be mine to claim at the end
Gentle gaze of Jesus remain with me!

Divine Saviour, my joy and my light,
My only happiness and the love of the chosen ones
I wish to love you and say in my prayer:
I have understood you, gentle gaze of Jesus!

                             Rita Bonnat   (Manuscript - AHF)

Goodbye dear Paulette!