Fraternities 2017: A new birth
The national meeting of the fraternities of the Province of Cruz del Sur was held in Villa San José, in Luján, Argentina, on 5, 6 and 7 September.
Inspired by the International Mission Assembly and the call to move towards the celebration of the Bicentenary, by forging a new birth for the charism of Saint Marcellin, and urging the Fraternities to the adaptation necessary in confronting the crises and needs of our time, the Province of “Cruz del Sur, on the first weekend of September, held the National Meeting of Fraternities of the Champagnat Movement of the Marist Family.
The principal theme of the meeting was promoting awareness of Marcellin as a positive and passionate leader, beating in the heart of each fraternity member.
Br Eutimio Rubio accompanied the participants in discovering the value of leadership from the personal and interior relationship of each person. A maturing relationship, capable of arousing its own energies, on the basis of self esteem and self confidence, in the free play of responsibility faced with commitment and the task, in communion with the other members of the fraternity. He expounded the ongoing challenge of personal knowledge so that our meetings can generate “places” of humanization, helping us to grow in freedom, confidence and creativity.
Celebrating the capacity and desire for service in harmony with the “Church of the apron,” all the members received as a symbol of their commitment an apron, serving to identify them as the servants of their brothers and sisters.
On Saturday morning, we took a pause in our activities in order to accompany Br Eugenio Calle Cuesta, who had died late on Thursday, to his eternal rest.
The Social Night, during supper on Saturday, provided a display of joy and affection in the souvenirs and gifts offered from the heart by each Fraternity. It was an opportunity for the Provincial Animation Team of the Fraternities to thank its members who were completing their term of service and to introduce the new members forming part of the team.
On Sunday morning, in a climate of prayer, we recapitulated our experience, reviewing the steps taken, contemplating what the meeting had left us with and looking at what we carried in our hearts, in order to live and share it.
We closed our meeting by taking part in the Act and Celebration of the Eucharist organized by the National Federation of Marist Ex-students on the occasion of the “ex-students day” and celebrating the centenary of the first Marist ex-students of the Republic of Argentina graduating in 1914 from the Colegio Ntra. Sra. de Luján.