Marcellin was an ardent spokesperson for the Kingdom. He understood that the plan of God expresses itself through mature men and women. He was a mystic in action. He was convinced that “to love God and to strive to make Him known and loved is what the life of a brother is all about.” It’s true that studies in education and psychology are indispensable in preparing to work with young people, but they’re not the only answer. Marcellin communicated to the first brothers his ardor for the Kingdom of God. In the measure that they share in Marcellin’s spirit, men and women teachers, group leaders, members of the Champagnat Movement, and others are committing themselves wholeheartedly for the coming of the Kingdom. These men and women are a gift for our Institute, the Church, and the entire world of today.

Marcellin shattered the conventional wisdom of his day when he set about to establish the equality of opportunities for the poor among whom he lived. “I see the urgent need there is to create a society capable of providing children in remote villages with the same quality education that other Religious Orders are giving to children in big cities, but at a lower cost”. In the words of the last General Chapter, “We feel called to insist that solidarity is an essential element of our way of educating, and to place our works at the service of the poor. Today, more than ever before, the number of the poor and marginalized is increasing, people to whom no one is announcing the Good News. Out of faithfulness to Christ and Marcellin, we feel called to breathe new life into the Montagne experience, to educate in and for solidarity as a powerful means of working for evangelization”.

Marcellin left us an incredible inheritance. It’s not enough to simply hang on to it. Using Marcellin’s vision, our Institute needs to be revivified -founded anew- to provide answers for today’s problems. In his Circular “Walk Peacefully, yet with a Sense of Urgency,” Br. Benito reminds us that refounding means “to effectively reorient the Institute in line with the intuitions and intentions of the Founder at the beginning of the Congregation”. Marcellin was profoundly convinced of the value of a brother’s vocation. “How important your work is! How great!” he writes to Br. Bartholomew. At every stage of history, people must read the signs of the times to discover how to communicate God’s love to the young, to free them from the problems that they grapple with in striving to reach their full potential. Today, given the world of children and young people as it is, to be a Marist -brother or lay person- and to commit one’s entire life to this endeavor is not only possible but most worthwhile. More and more people are seeing things this way, putting Marcellin’s intuitions into practice, and refounding the Marist Institute.

As brothers, we’re very aware of our limitations: works not addressing the needs of the poor; a lack of new brothers in some areas; being unfamiliar with how to go about meeting troubled youth; the standoffishness of some communities, not knowing how to get along with Lay People; a lack of excitement about the Good News and the Kingdom of God; aversion to the call to build and live community in different ways. A reality check prods us to see that we’re a long way from reaching our dreams. If we were to let such a check halt us in our tracks, however, discouragement would surely run rampant. Instead, let’s put to ourselves the same question that Mary asked, “How can this all come about?” The Angel’s answer still holds true today, “What men and women can’t do, God can”. Let’s not close our eyes to the challenge. Preserving the status quo would mean stifling our trust and confidence in the life-giving power and strength of the Lord. Our challenge and responsibility today is to make concrete efforts to go wherever the charism of Marcellin is leading us.