The Editorial – “Enthusiasm”
“It is not the faith that I lack, nor the desire to live that I lack. »
Zélie, CF186 of January 28, 1877
If enthusiasm is at the origin, this momentum and this joy which lifts us towards God, we can apply it to the words of Zélie: “It is not the faith that I lack, nor the desire to live that I lack. », while making it our own, one month after the opening of the Louis and Zélie Welcome House. It is the enthusiasm that characterizes the 1200 people who passed through the house in less than a month. Visitors for a day, guests for one or more nights, they have in common that they set out to approach God through the discovery of Saints Louis and Zélie and Saint Thérèse. Who are they ?
These are the pilgrims from Montauban, the first visitors on Easter Monday, then those from the Saint-Claude parish.
It's a young engaged couple who came to think three days before their wedding. It's a Parisian family who came with their children to settle down for a few days.
It is a large intergenerational parish group in the Pays de Flers on an annual outing, just like the Sainte-Odile parish in Paris or that of Ferté-Macé in Orne.
They are altar servers of the diocese, first weekend retreatants, couples delighted to spend time reflecting on the coherence of their lives in light of those of Louis and Zélie.
It's a girl who came with her parents to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.
The list is not exhaustive... and that's without counting the national gathering of the Word of Life which brings together around 400 people during the Ascension weekend.
Enthusiasm carries us; it is the joy of beginnings: let us give thanks to God.
Guy Fournier, deacon, administrator of the Louis and Zélie sanctuary of Alençon
June 2019
