Br Eugenio Sanz

Brother Eugenio Sanz, Marist missionary in Bangladesh, is author of a new blog on the site Periodista Digital, very well known among Spanish-speaking Christians for its session “Religión Digital”. We invite all Marists to follow his reflections and offer below the text he sent to the blog on 17 February. The address of the blog is: http://blogs.periodistadigital.com/misionero-en-asia.php

It is attractive being a Brother

There is nothing sweeter than hearing a youth call you “Brother”. I am not saying that everything in the life of a Brother is the colour of roses, of course not. But there are things in life that cannot be paid for in cash: for example, to go to sleep each day with the awareness that you are in the right place, doing what is right for the persons who most need you. There is the weariness, of course, the unfaithfulness, the sins and miseries. But above that is that you are a Brother for the people, especially for the youth.

The brothers are not part of the hierarchy of the Church, and for this reason our institutions and our presences are, for very many people, the unique point of contact with the Church. Persons who never step inside a parish church and who are far from any interest in ecclesial life come, on the other hand, close to us, entrust their sons to us, even if they belong to another religion, as is the case in Bangladesh. We are the caring, competent, educational, close face of Jesus for many persons.

After quite a number of years of being one, it still tastes delicious to me when someone calls me “Brother”. If someone calls you “Father”, you cannot call him father in your turn, you have to call him “Son”, whereas if someone calls you “Brother”, you can also call him brother, in a symmetric relationship of brotherhood with respect to our Father, the good God.

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Br Eugenio Sanz