Brother Ernesto on the 207th anniversary of the Marist Institute

After visiting a dying boy on October 28, 1816, Saint Marcellin Champagnat decided that there was a need to found an order of teaching Brothers to provide a religious and academic education for the poor children of rural France. The first two young men to train as Marist Brothers joined Father Champagnat on January 2, 1817. This day has come to be known as the Foundation Day of the Marist Brothers.

At the General House, on January 2, the Brothers of the General Administration together with lay collaborators celebrated the 207th anniversary of this event. Here down you can read the message of Br. Ernesto Sánchez, Superior General, delivered at the end of the Mass.

____________________

Happy New Year 2024! It is a joy to celebrate today, January 2, the 207th anniversary of the founding of our Marist Institute. It is a time to give thanks for the gift of the charism that has been given to us. And also to reflect on how we can live it and share it better in our days.

In this year 2024, in the month of April, we will celebrate 25 years since the Canonization of our Founder, St. Marcellin Champagnat. It encourages us to review how we live the Gospel values in the way Marcellin lived them.

Also this year, in the month of May, we will celebrate the bicentennial of the foundation stone of the house of Notre-Dame de l’Hermitage. A house built by Marcellin and the Brothers, together with the workers. A house founded on rock and next to a small river of living water. Symbols that animate our spirituality, fraternity and mission.

And also in this year, we will remember the 100th anniversary of the birth of Brother Basilio Rueda, Superior General from 1967 to 1985, a person of great dedication and support to the Institute in difficult times. With gratitude, we have initiated the process of his beatification.

And I conclude by quoting Pope Francis, at the Angelus yesterday, January 1. He speaks to us about Mary, who is our inspiration and support as Marists of Champagnat:

“Today the Gospel reveals to us that the greatness of Mary does not consist in performing some extraordinary deed; rather, while the shepherds, having received the announcement from the angels, hurry towards Bethlehem (cf. Lk 2:15-16), she remains silent. The Mother’s silence is a beautiful feature. It is not a simple absence of words, but a silence filled with wonder and adoration for the wonders that God is working. ‘Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart’, Saint Luke notes (2:19). In this way she makes room within herself for the One who was born; in silence and adoration, she places Jesus at the centre and bears witness to Him as Saviour. (…) Let us pray today to Mary Mother of God, and our Mother, that in the new year we may grow in this meek, silent and discreet love that generates life, and open paths of peace and reconciliation in the world.”

Let us continue to walk together, listening to the voice of the Spirit, as the process of synodality invites us to do.

Happy Feast of the Marist Institute!

_____________
Br. Ernesto Sáchez Barba, Superior General – 2 January 2024