Br. Óscar Martín Vicario: General Councillor

I was surprised to read, in a recent interview with Pope Francis, that one of his great concerns at this time of pandemic was loneliness: “I am worried about loneliness”, “we have forgotten communion”, “we have to rescue coexistence” said the Pope. And I believe that we are certainly facing a deep experience of solitude, although perhaps with new facets.

Holy Week this year brings us a Christ who is less exposed in the processions or celebrations… but very eloquent in those who suffer and in so many who take care of them with generosity and risk. Among them, also many religious and priests.

And at the same time, it brings us an extra measure of solitude. This is the loneliness that accompanies all human beings… and that perhaps we religious live in a special way (Rule of Life, 14)… But it is also in marriages, families, the elderly. Now, in times of isolation or confinement, perhaps loneliness challenges us more: to feel weak, to feel fragile, to feel alone

Three scenes illuminate our loneliness this Easter:

– One that is re-dimensioned on Holy Thursday, the day of love: the invitation to recover  coexistence as the Pope said. And to recreate fraternity, which is central to our vocation. So that this crisis does not make us more solitary but more brothers and sisters.

– Another, the loneliness of the crucified… hard and devastating, even to the point of abandonment. But that is also a loving solitude, full of compassion. And that it is an invitation for us to be more and more compassionate with those suffering  today.

– And the third, which is illuminated on Holy Saturday, with the traditional devotion to the solitude of Mary, and the desire to “accompany Mary” alone after losing her son. How can we accompany those who are suffering? And those who have lost children, parents, friends in this pandemic? And, at the same time, how can we feel accompanied by our brothers and sisters, and even more, accompanied from within by the crucified and risen Jesus, alive in our hearts?

In the global Marist family, the call to strengthen ties and hearts always resounds… And, behind it, that spirituality of Champagnat, who lived all events “accompanied” by the presence of God.

Let us remember in the course of these days the beautiful stanza of St. John of the Cross who, longing for Jesus, spoke of “the quiet music, the sonorous solitude, the meal that recreates and makes one fall in love”. May we discover that music in the background that gives us strength; may we feel that our solitude is inhabited; and may the Holy Thursday dinner, even if we celebrate it separately, recreate and make us fall in love. For us Marists, together with Mary of solitude, this must also be a celebration “around the same table”.

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Br. Óscar Martín Vicario – General Councillor