Change your gaze and life will spring up
Sister Vincent is one of the sisters of Jeanne-Antide Thouret whose patron saint is St Vincent de Paul; the congregation, emanation of the Daughters of Charity was founded in Besançon in 1799 by Jeanne-Antide after the dispersal of the Daughters of Charity by the revolutionaries; their mission: teaching, helping the poor, caring for the sick, hence their presence in EHPAD as in the Notre Dame des Cèdres establishment mentioned by the sister.
"Let your gaze be the gaze of God: He seeks beauty to marvel at it
May your gaze be the gaze of God; He's looking for the little ones to be their greatness.
May your gaze be the gaze of God: He seeks the wounded to be their salvation. »
Didier Rimaud.
"For Jesus, others, whatever they may be, whatever their actions, their reputation, their illness, are always loved by GOD" Cardinal Decourtray
Daughter of St. Jeanne Antide, with my sisters, with others, I try to live from her charisma: to love and serve the poor, to be evangelized by them!!
I can tell you that the more I advance in this house, the less I understand the disease: seeing people we knew and not recognizing them, what a harsh reality!! But what deepens in me is the profound conviction that only Love helps these people: love received and given, love within the couple, friendship between residents. Truth in the relationship!!
People are sensitive to respect for their attitude, their behaviour, their beliefs.
When a person arrives in our house, very disoriented and tells us over and over all day the name of his village, where to go, the staff then writes him the name of his village on a paper, and he keeps it preciously because it is for him a safety. He continues for about a fortnight at the end of which I can meet him, saying to me, soothed, with joy, and raising his arms: "I live again"
A gentleman constantly moves the chairs, the seats, everyone lets him do it and puts things back in place without telling him anything, he needs to spend himself!!
It is common for one person to lie on another's bed; kindly the staff or myself, take him to his room and usually everything goes well.
Sometimes one or the other resident does not want to go to the dining room for the meal; the staff then comes to serve him where he is, so he feeds himself while if we force him to come to the dining room, he would not eat anything.
We invite people who wish to come and pray the rosary every morning. There are the regulars, but nothing is systematic, one day it is yes, one day it is no, we respect their wishes.
One day a resident sister said to me, "I'm losing my memory, I don't know anything" It's true, you forget many things but it doesn't matter, so she answers, "Yes, one day a preacher said in a retreat: what's important is today, it's the present moment."
On the day of August 15, we do a time of prayer and at some point I invite the residents to express their reason for thanksgiving. To my surprise many express themselves and in a very deep way: there is a very tired gentleman who does not always seem in tune with us, I see his eyes shine, I approach him and ask him what he wants to tell , with difficulty but with conviction, he says "for my wife", she went 80 km every day to come and see him.
Several families were suffering from their parent's condition: together we thought about how to help make this happen.
"When friendships are formed between residents, thank you for saying that friendship, love are stronger than illness."
"When one of our own joins the Father's House, thank you for saying that Life is stronger than death. Our House is a big family where we help each other in difficult times. »
To conclude I quote Xavier Thevenot" "Suffering does not please God, what pleases the Creator is that man humanizes himself. And to humanize suffering is to try to reconnect with others and with the Father the bond that has been broken by pain. What is redeeming is not the suffering itself but the attempt to get out of oneself in the midst of the ordeal. Only a warm presence of healthy people, attentive to what the sick are going through can enable this humanization of suffering."
We should not believe that everything is perfect at Our Lady of The Cedars, but I am pleased to witness how the residents are respected. With you I thank the Lord for this work of humanization.
Testimony of Sister Vincent