IntoTheDeep: believe
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The first day of the International Gathering of Marist Youth, July 27, was dedicated to the theme of faith, animated by the Marist Brothers. “On the one hand, it is a very easy topic, because faith is a gift. On the other hand, living the faith is a great challenge, because there are more and more things that go against it,” stressed Brother Ernesto Sanchez, Superior General of the Marists of Champagnat.
This day was preceded by the official inauguration of the event, which took place on the evening of Wednesday, July 26. The opening was marked by the reading of the text from Luke 5, when Jesus invites the Apostle Peter to cast the net to the other side. This Gospel passage inspires the meeting, motivating the young people to put out “Into The Deep”.
Thursday began with Mass. After, at the beginning of the work, Brother José Sánchez, Director of the Secretariat of Education and Evangelization and member of the commission that prepared the meeting, thanked everyone for their presence and introduced the participants. He also introduced Brother Máximo Blanco, Provincial host of the meeting, and the director of the Marist College of Carcavelos, Prof. Félix Lopes.
The hymn of the meeting, written by Brother Fábio Oliveira, who died recently, was presented. It is a call to encounter. The refrain goes like this: “Let us go in haste to the encounter! It is the Lord who sends us. We are the Church going out, we are the embrace of love“. The “embrace of love” is Mary’s embrace of Elizabeth, an embrace that communicates authentic life and joy.
Brother Ernesto then took the floor to motivate the participants to deepen their understanding of the theme of the day, which was “to believe”. He invited the young people to reflect on how Mary can inspire them in their journey of faith, especially moved by the will of Our Lady, after the Annunciation, to go out quickly to meet Elizabeth, in an attitude of service.
At the end of the morning’s work, the participants were divided into small communities, which will be a fraternal space for dialogue and growth during the meeting.
In the afternoon, the four Marist Brothers General Councilors, who are participating in the meeting, accompanied the young people in the process of discernment and deepening of faith. Brothers Josep Maria Soteras and Luis Carlos Gutiérrez, Vicar General, proposed to the young people a discernment of the reality that they have had to live in recent times, highlighting situations that challenge them, such as pandemics, the ecological question and wars. How do these situations affect faith? How can we see God in these negative realities? How can we believe that He is there? These are some of the provocations that emerged from the reflection and were the basis for the meditations in the small communities, which were then shared with the whole group through drawings that these communities presented.
Brothers Oscar Vicario and Ben Consigli presented the theme of interiority. Brother Ben showed the connection between interiority and faith, believing. Believing has to do with trust, trust in God. He does not expect everyone to be perfect, but he wants trust. Brother Oscar used the image of connection to explain the essence of life: living connected is the true life, which should mean intense moments of fullness, often marked by moments of relationship. It is about living connected to the essential.
The reflection on interiority led to the concrete experience of silence, of the encounter with God, realized individually and in small communities.
To conclude the first day of the meeting, the hosts organized a typical Portuguese feast, an “arraial”, with an open-air dinner and the animation of a folkloric group that presented Portuguese dance traditions.
The second day of the meeting will be animated by the Marist Sisters and will have the theme “Adore”.