“If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing,
nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No!
Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this
friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in
this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation. And so, today, with
great strength and great conviction, on the basis of long personal experience
of life, I say to you, dear young people: Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes
nothing away, and he gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we
receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ – and
you will find true life.” (Pope Benedict XVI)
Every week, our
team has the opportunity to spend a whole day together. These team days always
consist of different adventures and conversations, and last week was no exception
to this. We drove about an hour and a half to Québec City, in hopes of walking
through the Holy Door at Notre-Dame de Québec there. This year marks the 350th
anniversary of the church, making it the oldest North American parish north of
Mexico. In celebration of this anniversary, the Holy Door will be kept open until
December 27th, 2014. The door has an engraved image of Jesus on the outside and you can even place your hand in His as you go through the door. On the other side of the door, there is an image of Mary. Before entering the door, there are a series of reflections and scripture verses you can pray, to prepare your heart for entering. 
We arrived in
Québec City, ate lunch and made our way to the church. We each took turns
walking through the door, praying and meditating inside the church and chapel, and had a very positive experience. One of the biggest things that kept
hitting me while we were there was how blessed we were to be able to
experience such an incredible grace. The door hasn’t been opened in years and
once it’s closed, it will be closed for another 25 years. Inside the church,
the tomb of St François de Laval is present. St François de Laval is one of our
patron saints and his canonization, as well as the canonization of our other
patron saint (St Marie de l’Incarnation) are being celebrated and honored
during this 350th anniversary.
How blessed are
we to have had the opportunity to enter through the Holy Door, see the tomb of
one of our patron saints and had to drive only an hour and a half to experience
it! I can’t speak for the whole team, but I personally experienced a lot of
healing and peace in my heart during our visit. It was a gift and a blessing to
be filled and touched in such a way.
God bless!
Rebecca & Les équipes NET (Rebecca, Sara, Andrée-Anne, Lisa, Josée, Matt, Zak)
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