I will be the healthiest old person that they have known

On the 15th October, in the colonial and manorial city of Morelia, of our dear and pretty Mexico, the community of Casa Champagnat celebrated with joy and rejoicing the 101st anniversary of the birth of our respectable and dear Brother Jesús Sánchez Cobián.
The celebration started with a solemn Eucharist, concelebrated by five priests who also live with Marist vigour. The chapel that was shining with its beautiful ornaments gathered together the brothers from the Valladolid Institute, the novices and brothers from Perla Tapatía, Guadalajara? and of course a good number of friends who live Champagnat?s dream.
During the homily, we were permitted to highlight the salient facts of his long life. Originally from San Juan d?Amula, a village hidden by the majestic Sierra de Tapalpa, our confrère at the age of seventeen asked Jesus and Mary through abundant Masses and rosaries what his vocation would be, WHAT HE SHOULD BE IN HIS LIFE. He had not received any response. Then, on Holy Thursday 1922 he pressed them to answer him IMMEDIATELY! It is better to hear the description from the very mouth of our jubilarian: ?The following day, Good Friday, in the church, I heard two words clearly and precisely in my heart: MARIST BROTHER. Two words were enough for me; it was as if they had blinded me because all I could think of was studying in order to enter this Congregation. And the best thing is that I HAVE BEEN HAPPY since that moment. Everything in the world is possible!?
Our dear Brother Jesús had to defend his new life project strongly starting at his home because Mrs Pantaleona, his mother, on hearing him say ?I am going to be a Marist Brother? burst out laughing and said: ?Son you are not made for that!? Then the parish priest said ?What foolishness! You would be better to go to the seminary with your brothers!? But God, who had called him in his mother?s womb, had outlined the way so that he would arrive at being an true son of Marcellin and a herald of Mary. It was on the back of a donkey that the Lord sent him his angel to recruit him in the affable personality of Brother Pedro Damián, founder of the Province of Mexico. On the 25th December 1924, during the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the arrival of the Marist Brothers in Mexico, he pronounced his first vows, realising his childhood dream: TO BE A MARIST BROTHER.