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The Famille Marie-Jeunesse was born here in Quebec about 20 years ago by young people who gathered together to pray to Mary.
As time went on, a few of them had the desire to continue this adventure, not only by meeting for a few hours each week
but by commiting their lives, because they began to discover the Church as prayer became more and more important for them.
Then there were the community's first professed members, in the 90s, and now, this year there are 5 houses, 2 in Canada and 3 abroad.
Our community prayer is the Rosary, prayed before the Blessed Sacrement.
Adoration is at the heart of our contemplative life, and, of course, we have the Eucharist daily.
There are two components to our missionary life
We are, of course, asked to animate outside events, retreats, but here in the house as well,
because we also welcome a lot of people, mostly youth who come for retreats.
We say that at Marie-Jeunesse, young people evangelise young people. What happens is that often, through friendship, there are fewer obstacles.
So when there are youth who come and make friends with other youth,
it's easy to ask, ''Why are you happy? Why do you make these kinds of choices in your life?''
And throughout all of this, in order to be effective in our missionary life, we have a significant educational component.
Thursday is kind of our focal point . Young people from around each of our houses are invited to come share our evening meal with us
On Thursday, of course, we commemorate the Lord's Last Supper.
We also chose this day to be a time of fellowship, so youth can come join us for the meal.
After the meal, there is a time of fellowship, followed by a time to play music and chat.
Then there is a special evening of prayer that takes place around the Word and the Eucharist.
Because we live in a restless world, people come to this evening in search of the component of the Eucharist
which is to meet others, but first of all to meet Jesus, who is there, in the great peace of heart.
We are currently in a period, these past five years, during which young people are truly searching for that which is sincere.
And it's like they have a sixth sense, and they discover that all around them there are people or different situations
where they are made to buy into ideas, buy into a future, buy into something, whereas they want sincerity and truth.
I have been part of this community for 10 years as a consecrated lay person, and in my faith journey I became committed to...
I would say that for 5 or 6 years I have been journeying towards the priesthood.
I come from a family with a strong faith, where I experienced fellowship, I experienced a family atmosphere that did me a lot of good.
And I didn't find this family atmosphere in the world, though I searched for it.
And when I met the Famille Marie-Jeunesse, I had the impression that I had found the same family that had given me life,
and the same family that had given me faith.
I would say that I received my calling to the priesthood through my missionary experience.
I had the chance to spend two years in Reunion Island, where I spent time with young people for two years.
And seeing young people who really had a lot of faith, through my experience as a spiritual counsellor,
I felt within me the desire to give more to the young people I met.
During the Eucharistic Congress, 8 members of the community will be ordained.
This is the only time, I think, in our province of Quebec in almost 40 years,
for there to be 8 priests ordained at once, and what's more, there will be a total of 12 priests ordained at the Congress.
I am often asked why there are vocations to the priesthood in our community, while in certain dioceses things are more difficult.
I think that the current situation in Quebec is that families are no longer a place in which faith is presented as something that can be good in a life.
If that’s the case, how can one think of becoming someone who shares the faith, when faith is not even important for his own family?