Spiritual Testament of Père Yves Marion

20 December 1934 – 16 October 2010

Written on 9^th November 2001

The nomad has finished his travels… today he leaves for the most marvellous country, the only one to discover… without baggage, except for the love that has been sown… I leave without regrets “Non rien de rien, non je ne regrette rien…”, or rather, yes, with three regrets. The first, is to be separated from you for a moment, you who loved me and whom I loved, but I know that one day we will meet again, I know too that love is stronger than death and from up there [as one says], I shall try to love you better still and to help you. The second regret is not to have been good enough, simple enough… I ask forgiveness for the trouble I have caused, for the misunderstandings, the indelicacies, the criticism, the lack of love. The third regret is to have often observed the lack of joy and smiling in our church… oh yes, build up this church with the smile of God, so that our church may be joyous, welcoming and warm. Pay good attention… way beyond my closed eyes, I wish to give you the gift of my smile.

It was good on earth… we laughed… we sang… we achieved much: we feasted… but I am going to the Eternal Feast. Oh, yes, I have loved life, because she is a gift of God. Life, must be tasted as one tastes a fine fruit, it must be breathed as one inhales the delicate scent of a flower, it must be discovered as one contemplates a landscape, it must at times be taimed, as one trains a horse or a dog, one must support it when it becomes grumpy or bad tempered, one must fight with her when she becomes the obstacle of revolt, one must always respect her because she is God’s joyful creation, she must be thanked for she educates us and forms us, and finally one must know how to leave her, as she is life for another LIFE.

All of my existence as been marked by the loving presence of God. Of course, there have been sufferings, physical and moral. I have at times been grabbed violently by evil; attacks, criticisms, jealousies which have wanted to demolish me. All of that has often been transformed into mercies which have broadened my field of apostleship “mirabilius reformasti…”

Each of our lives is a battle between the darkness and the light, between the old man and the new man, between the forces of death and the momentum of the Resurrection. It is true that at certain moments I have been capable of giving of my best, even with verve and generosity, or rather, I have been able to let myself be radiated by the light and the love of God and which goes through us in order to be passed to others; it is true too that at other moments that I have pulled a screen over this radiant passage, by my lack of love. I know however that the new man has never ceased to grow in me, but what an exhausting battle it is! It does not finish until the end of our passage here below. I have no fear because I know that today the glorious Light, the Joyous Light and definitive Joy are offered to me by He who is Love.

I leave this world in the faith, this faith which has never ceased to grow over the years of my consecration to God in the Priesthood. Oh yes, trust the Lord, it is He who brings us to the sources of flowing water, with Him, your desert will flower with flowers always fresh which will never fade. He is for us the rock in our tempests, the shelter in our storms, the hand which takes our hand and keeps it in his for ever.

And then, as Piotr, the friend whom God gave to me and who knows well that I will never leave him revealed to me, : “ little will be enough – a word… a smile… a gesture…”

Thank you, Lord, for so many blessings received, so much friendship shared.

Thank you Lord, for your Words and your Mercy, for your Love.

I believe in ETERNAL LOVE

I have complete trust for I know that He will welcome me as I am, because He loves me as I am, and that I love Him with all that I am.

So … ALLELUIA!

From my hand

At the end of a retreat at En Calcat

9^th November 2001

The scales of time hurry you towards tomorrow

Your dreams and your desires boil in his hands

And yet this evening he seems to have stopped

In these night hours when the muse has breathed.

To leave here or there, from one box to another box

From case to case, from mission to mission

With this mixed taste of bitterness and boldness

It is sunset, tomorrow rising sun

Tears rolling from eyes, fountains of friendship

The heart rejoices before new paths

Those who have followed you will not forget you

They carry in their heart an infinite seed

And it is useless to fear, you know well that he is there

He who calms the sea at its deepest

Your life, your song, your strength,

It is He and with Him

Pilgrim of Emmaus on the roads of today

And all could germinate

Grains well sown

Even if, at evening, a Calvary shadow

Plunged you into darkness

Tomorrow will be Easter and everything will burst out

Into mornings of Light, into fountains of joy

So at night you can sing “Alleluia”

Evening of 31^st August 2010 – at the moment of the turning of a page [on retiring from his parish].