Walking with Marie-Louise

Liane Rainville, DW

Marie-Louise Trichet, co-Founder of the Daughters of Wisdom with St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, was declared Blessed by Pope John Paul 11 in 1993. To honor her Silver Jubilee the Daughters of Wisdom in Manila, Philippines, conducted a humanitarian visit to a depressed area on October 28, 2018.

A young team of eight Sisters, sixteen pre-novices, novices and sponsored students proceeded towards Matang Tubig, a squatter area in Manila. We prayed Blessed Marie-Louise to touch hearts and revive faith and hope of people living in poverty and abject conditions. Upon arrival, hundreds of smiling people of all ages warmly greeted us.

Outreach Program
After a short presentation of the Congregation, our presence, goal and our group, Sr. Jean Enad, DW, gave an inspirational talk. Dancing by eleven students followed, with singing “Let Me Be the Bearer of Your Love” and Hail Mary in different languages. Then two hundred parents received bags of food for their families and children were offered toys. How happy and grateful they were! Then we toured another part of the squatter area where space is scarce and dilapidated shanties abound. We ended our mission activity at the Delegation House with a simple thanksgiving meal uniting us in joy and solidarity.

Maternal presence of the Foundress
But the fruits of this grace-filled experience did not end there as we recall the words of Blessed Sister Marie-Louise, “If I were cloth, I would give myself to clothe the poor.” We had a warm, affirming feeling that we were under her loving care and maternal presence. The pre-novices and novices, thankful, expressed their reactions: “It was a blessing to share what we have and are…an opportunity to share Christ’s love to the poor…to see the face of Christ in them… to look at the innocent faces of the children sitting, waiting with full hope and expectation… their welcome with smiling faces made me experience the presence of God…… I was moved with joy… the Lord Jesus is crying to us through the poor children and their parents all the time …”