[Sundaycommunity] René Fumoleau

[Tina Neves]

Thank you Dean
Yes, very good!

On Mon, Dec 9, 2024 at 12:49 PM Dean Riley via Sundaycommunity <
sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:

> Greetings to all.
>
> While reflecting on the themes of advent - faith, hope, love & joy - I
> remembered some thing I read many years ago, written by an Oblate priest
> missionary … René Fumoleau. I couldn’t help but reflect on the audacity
> and trust of those three “wise men” who set out to follow a star not really
> not knowing where they would be led or what they would find. I hope you
> enjoy the reflection below.
>
> Advent blessings…
>
> Dean.
>
> [image: image1.jpeg]
>
>
> Born in France in 1926, René Fumoleau came to Denendeh (Northwest
> Territories) as a young priest in 1953. Travel to Rádeli Kóé (Fort Good
> Hope) involved a long boat journey down Dehcho (the Mackenzie River) into a
> new world.
>
> Through all of the years, his attachment to the Dene peoples deepened. He
> celebrated the strength of their ancestral wisdom and committed himself to
> their desire for change.
>
> René Fumoleau served first as an Oblate priest (and eventually
> incardinated into the Diocese of Mackenzie) in Northern Canada where he
> lived for more than sixty years. Fumoleau was also a poet and published a
> collection of his works reflecting on all he had learned during his time
> among the Dene people.
>
> *Truck lights.*
>
> Winter time and very cold,
> early afternoon but already dark.
>
> I’m driving from Yellowknife to Fort Rae in my 15 year old pick-up truck,
>
> and a Dene elder asked me for a ride.
>
> The land has taught the Dene
>
> to live in a world of silence.
>
> After ten kilometres, Kolchia reflects:
>
> “Driving the truck is like having faith in God.”
>
> I’m trying to figure out what he means, but, after two kilometres I give
> up:
>
> “Grandpa, you talked about driving and faith in God.
>
> I’m not sure what you meant.”
>
> Kolchia turned slightly towards me:
>
> “You started the engine and you put the lights on. We could have said:
>
> ‘We see only one hundred metres ahead.
>
> Further on, it’s one hundred kilometres of darkness, so we cannot go to
> Fort Rae.’
>
> But you got the truck in gear,
>
> we started to move,
>
> and the lights kept showing ahead of us.
>
> Must be the way with God too
>
> who shows us only a bit of the future,
>
> just enough for our next move.
>
> If we are afraid and if we stand still,
>
> we’ll never see further ahead.
>
> But if we go with the little light we have,
>
> the light keeps showing us the way on and on.”
>
> “*Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things
> not seen.*” Hebrews 11:1
>
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