Being light in the world
One of the Institute’s most significant gatherings on vocations for both brothers and lay Marists ended on Dec. 14 after participants gathered for five weeks at the general house to discuss vocations.
From Dec. 5 – 10, they received guest speakers such as Pep Buetas, co-director of the Secretariat of the Laity, and Father John Larson SM. They also celebrated the feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8 and held a cultural night the following evening led by the Oceania and Asia regions.
Then, during their last three days of the ‘Marist Vocation Animators for a New Beginning’ programme, they celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12 and discussed their evaluations of the previous weeks.
A group of six representatives of all continents, which had been gathering ideas throughout the month, presented their conclusions to all participants, who in turn discussed these in small groups. The participants gave their feedback to the six, who then elaborated a final concluding text to be published in January titled ‘On the Shoulders of Champagnat’ (ORI ESP: A Hombros de Champagnat).
On Dec. 14, the 37 participants, which came from 27 different countries, also took part in a closing Mass presided by Father Jacob M. Mudge of the Diocese of Sandhurst, Australia.
During the homily, the director of the Brothers Today Secretariat, Brother Tony Leon, gave each a small clay lamp – the event’s icon, which recalls the lamps used by the early Christians in Roman catacombs – and encouraged them to shine their light in the world.
The programme had centred on personal spiritual experience, the culture of vocational ministry and its theological implication, as well as ways of planning and carrying out the best practices to promote vocations.
The organising team included Brothers Tony and Hipólito Pérez Gómez of the Brothers Today Secretariat; Brothers Teófilo Rodrigues Minga and Dennis Cooper, formators in Manziana, and general councillor Brother Ernesto Sánchez.
It is expected that the final text includes topics titled: a new beginning for animating vocations, I am a vocation, the mission of animating vocations and communion of Marist vocations.