A dream has come true for me and my brother Armand. The pages we have just read exceeds our expectations. They come from the spiritual notes and letters of Mimi, of those who lived with her or who knew her. 

Jacques delved into these writings with “fear and profound respect” (Ph 2, 12). From the outset, he carried in his heart a certainty : to tell the world about this incredible life. Mission accomplished! He brings to light in a brilliant manner the sources he quotes and comments. He enlightens the stages of Mimi’s long life with little details and quotations from famous spiritual authors that enriches and universalizes her spirituality. He helps us love and understand; he lifts up the soul and brings it comfort. God has given him a priceless talent and he has made it fruitful. 

Did he know that in writing this spiritual biography, he was presenting to us the person we have loved the most next to our mother? We are able to see once again Georgette Faniel, whom we have always called Mimi, almost living in our midst. She seems to us closer and more beautiful than ever. 

She has been a source of light for the world and the Church in an exceptional manner. She accepted everything as a gift from God, making her life an offering and a continual praise in the name of humanity. If suffering appears often in her life, it is first and only because she loved the Father with all her heart and that she had been called to be love like Him and his Son in the Holy Spirit. She wanted to love and she grew in faith towards the resurrection with the cross of Jesus. Jacques showed us with meaningful words the intimate bond that existed between love and suffering in the life of Mimi as in that of Christ, God’s gift to humanity. 

Ô marvellous little woman who saved us from the human suffering that we carried with difficulty as priests! Her mysterious and powerful suffering joined with her confident faith in the Father were needed in order to give us life. Our priesthood was one with hers.

The intimate life of Mimi is now revealed publicly with the publication of this work. We never doubted that the Father had chosen Jacques to accomplish such a labor of love, for everything was so unheard of and unexpected in her life and ours. These pages are a confirmation of this divine plan. They came to life in his heart like a cry of humanity towards God. This book, so beautiful and intense, is also disturbing and interpellating. It is read as an uninterrupted prayer, a profound meditation on the mystery of the cross, where suffering is simply a veil covering the face of the God of love. 

For many who will read this book, it will be a discovery of the face of God the Father and of his insane love for humanity. He loves us infinitely and constantly wishes to establish an alliance with us. God has such great love for us that he can only be seen by being hidden through suffering and pain.  If suffering remains before us something atrocious, it can become a beacon of light when we accept it and when our hands shape it into the image of Christ and Mary. It is also the purpose of this book to show us Mary as the one who ardently wishes to help us encounter Jesus. All human beings are her children. 

We shed tears of joy in reading certain chapters. How faithful Mimi was! Jacques presents her to us in the ordinary moments of her life that God led in an extraordinary manner. We also saw how the Father guided Jacques during these months as he struggled to find the right expression that showed the truthfulness of Mimi’s total giving. He wrote these pages in a jet of light, with simplicity and humility, wanting them to be diffused for the glory of the Father. 

As time goes by and illness is taking its toll, it was necessary to entrust the writings of our spiritual mother to someone trustworthy. It is really the power of the Holy Spirit that brought forth the name of Jacques Gauthier. This writer, poet and theologian, has given this work the right tone in which we discover all the depth and intimacy of a soul united to God. 

Father Guy Girard, m.s.a.
Father Armand Girard, m.s.a.

On the feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary
21^st of November 2017