100 years of Sister Gisèle - Region of France

Dear Sister Gisèle, 

With you, we want to express our gratitude to God for all these life years He is granting you. You were born in Roubaix 100 years ago. You entered the Congregation of the Franciscans of Calais, now named Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady, in the midst of the Second World War. 
You are an “exception” in the Congregation, because you arrived to the retirement home of Vitry-en-Artois (in the department of Pas-de-Calais) in 1941 and left this place in October 2006 because we closed that community. In that place, you were at the service of the elderly. (65 years in the same house and community…) A record!
During the last years of their lives, your parents were in that same retirement home, and your presence by their side despite all your work has been a true relief and support for them. You left this place without any inconveniences despite your strong bond with it.
October 2006 : You arrived at the retirement home, Notre Dame des Anges-Lille, and you still are there, appreciated by everyone! It’s a joy for all of us to celebrate your long life – 100 years !!!

Congratulations Sister Gisèle!
Keep on accompanying us with your discreet, smiling, and pleasant presence !

With Sister Gisèle, whom we are celebrating her 100 years with today and for whom we are praying, we make this prayer our own:

God, give us the time to listen to the silence to well dispose our heart and spirit.
God, give us the time to listen to the others to appreciate and support them.
God, give us the time to listen to the information to choose and judge each situation.   
God, give us the time to live.
With wisdom, to fill well our life
Sharing, to be happy
With hope and faith, to meet you, God.
God, give us the time to love people
With their age, personality, and taste differences
With their qualities and their defects
With their spiritual wealth or poverty
With their health or their diseases.
Because to love is to live
Because to love is to give
Because to love is to accept oneself
Because to love is to share
Because love is the heart of everything.
God, give us the time to love because with the passage of time, our only remorse will be that we have not loved the others as you love them.
Without life and love, true happiness is an impossible short and long term thing.

Sister Yvette Briquet