Keeping hope alive

Last summer, I took part in a very special event. The 60th anniversary of the founding of Camp Claret du Lac Elgin.

This summer camp was founded by a Claretian Father, a young priest who arrived from Spain with a vision and a mission. Father Carmel Lerma.

As a teenager, I was lucky enough to camp in this heavenly spot for 5 summers. The first year, for 2 weeks, and the following years, I spent the whole summer there. Because my father, a high school art teacher, had been recruited by Father Carmel as coordinator.

Dad was in charge of scheduling activities for all the campers, and the whole family was at Lake Elgin for the summer. My brother Luc and I as campers. Mom and my brother Éric (too young at first) at the cottage.

Last summer, in 2023, in anticipation of this celebration, the team organizing the event asked guests to recount a significant event in their Camp experience.

Here’s what I sent.

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Approximately what year was your highlight? Oh, I can’t remember exactly, but I think it was 1972.

I was a camper in the Claire-Nature group at the time, and Dad was the coordinator.

My highlight

We had gone on an excursion to Mont Ham. The weather was overcast and we climbed the mountain in the afternoon. In the evening, we slept under the stars, taking turns to keep the fire “alive” to keep the animals away, but, curiously, in the early morning when the sun woke us, the fire was out… BUT what I saw changed my perception of things forever.

It was very early and the sun was shining brightly in the sky over the mountain. Straightening up a little, this is what I saw. The summit of Mount Ham was “cut off” from the rest of the world – a “carpet” of clouds stretched as far as the eye could see. We were alone in the world under the bright sun! It was breathtakingly beautiful. I remember marvelling at what I was seeing, while my fellow campers seemed to find it less beautiful than I did!

After closing the bivouac, we took the trail back down the mountain. The further down we went, the more we were in the clouds, which eventually turned to rain once we reached the bottom.

Before getting back into the Camp minibus, I remember looking up at the sky where the summit of Mount Ham was nowhere to be seen (let alone the sun) and thinking that I should never forget this moment… because even if I can’t SEE it, the sun is shining somewhere.

That image is still with me. I tell you about it here and I SEE it in my mind!

Despite the difficult times we face in life, the sun shines somewhere… So keep hoping Linda!

An outstanding experience

These images have been with me all my life since that moment. The sun above the clouds.

And I’m convinced that what I experienced on the top of that mountain in 1972 was what we call a moment of grace. The kind of experience that changes our perspective on things forever.

If you’ve ever been on a plane on a rainy day, you know what it’s like to fly above the cloud line.

This vision is as real as the rain that fell on the runway when you took off!

Rain on the ground. Sun higher!

Keep hope (say your name here). The sun shines somewhere and if I rise above my clouds, it’s there.

Health, laughter and joy

Linda