T (07) 3394 9999 Absentee Line (07) 3394 9964 E email@loreto.qld.edu.au W www.loreto.qld.edu.au PO Box 1726 Coorparoo DC Qld 4151
Volume 17 - 5 June, 2012 Dear Parents and Students I thank Ms Carmel Dunne for her kind permission to publish this reflec on given to us with love in this me of mystery. Walking into a lovely a ernoon with heavy heart the beginning sunset yielded a pink cloud‐ one which took shape as the etching of a young woman, dancing, tantalising, changing direc on, whipped by wind and unseen currents but never once losing beauty, integrity, sense of form. A young woman now gone from us . . . . but deep in our hearts lives the memory of one – undemanding, beau ful, joyous and true. Her fight for life an example of for tude. She lingered experiencing the unknown the extraordinary hidden flights of beauty and intensity, of invita on and response. She seemed to know that me was needed before surrendering and going from her beloved family and friends. The united skills and hopes of all could not pull her back into this life but gave us me to know that she needed to be released into a life of eternal blessedness and beauty where she is enveloped. The girls in their grief and suffering gave all they could to their friend – their prayer, their love, their realisa on of the fragility of this life and its preciousness ‐ all offered as gi . They drew from themselves the power of transforma on, contempla on, hope and wonder; intui on, memory, generosity, depth of compassion, understanding of forgiveness and wholeness. We have all experienced a transfigura on – to know that she has gone from us and we are le with her smile and the memory of her graciousness. She dances on and we too in our lives are called to reach out to the unseen, mysterious pulses of our unfolding days. Carmel Dunne (Principal Loreto 1991‐2010) 31/5/12