Central America holds the assembly of the Forum on the Lay Marist Vocation

On May 14 and 15, we lived a deep experience of communion organized by the Provincial Commission for the Laity. Brothers and lay people we meet in El Salvador for the Provincial Assembly of the International Forum on the Lay Marist Vocation. Representatives of each country – 25 lay people and 9 brothers lived a time of grace -, who took the voice of all those who participated in the reflection on the issues proposed by the Secretariat of the Laity, as a path for the International Forum. We fulfilled the realization of the Provincial synthesis of the 4 themes of the International Forum: Vocation, formative itineraries, charismatic links, and associative structures.

We were able to verify that on the part of the laity there is a conviction in the option of living the Marist charism. More and more lay people are aware that living the Marist charism is a matter of vocation, and for this reason, we must live a process of personal discernment to recognize the call. A vocation that invites us to follow Jesus in the style of Mary. Like those who, feeling themselves heirs to the charism of Saint Marcellin, have taught us to know, love and live a Marist life with a clear commitment to the most vulnerable. And together with them, we understand that this path that we follow within Marist Spirituality has to be one of communion, living the creative experience of community, which launches us on the mission of making Jesus Christ known and loved.

Steps as a Global Charismatic Family

We recognize that this is not done alone, that the mission is enriched when we organize ourselves, and that’s how it arises among us the need to articulate ourselves, to move as an important part of the Marist charismatic family. That’s why I ask you:

In your Provinces: Have you taken steps to articulate yourself as lay Marists? Do you feel this desire to create structures that facilitate the experience of the Marist charism based on personal commitment for the benefit of others? What is needed for the associative structure to function, despite being made up of different countries and cultures? How do you think a Champagnat Marist association should function at Provincial level?

We finished the Meeting of the Forum with the Eucharist, where the Provincial, Br Hipólito Pérez sent Nohemy Pinto, Marcos Mercado, Br Juan Carlos Bolaños and myself, Ana Saborío, as representatives of the Province of Central America to the International Forum of the Lay Marist Vocation to be held in Rome in November.

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Ana Saborio