130 Marists gather from Lebanon, Syria, Spain and Italy
From Jan. 25 – 27, 130 Marists from Lebanon, Syria, Spain and Italy met to work on the messages of the XXII General Chapter that took place in Colombia last September and October.
Under the theme ‘Caja de los 5 sueños’ (Box of 5 dreams), Brothers and laity from all the fields of Marist educational works from the four countries that form the Mediterránea province met at the Guardamar Marist Center in Guardamar del Segura, Spain.
“Let us allow our hearts to be touched and let us change the world around us,” said Brother Juan Carlos Fuertes, provincial of Mediterránea, during the encounter. “Let’s sail together to make shared dreams come true.”
Other participants included Brothers Luis Carlos Gutiérrez, vicar general, and Georges A. Hakim, a Blue Marist from Aleppo, Syria.
“We cannot stay in the chapel because we have to take it outside and incarnate it, since God invites us to live a life in fullness, not a half-life," said Br Luis Carlos.
The themes were divided into five blocks called: global family, faces and hands, bridge builders, margins of the world and emerging realities.
According to the province’s website, the objective of the meeting was to convert the participants into “bridges of mercy and fraternity, having an open heart for this, taking the initiative without fear, inviting the excluded after going out to meet them, and testing our capacity of service and its usefulness”.
The participants heard several testimonies such as those of Mario Araya and Gabriel Bernardo da Silva, who live in the international community of Syracuse, Italy, and spoke about their mission with immigrants, “building bridges” with them.
During the Mass that closed the meeting, Br Juan Carlos stressed the importance of interior transformation inviting participants to be “boats, crossing to the other shore, over the sea of our difficulties, to meet those who need us the most.”