Nearly 200 Marists gather to learn more about the spirituality of Marcellin Champagnat

On 21 March, an average of 200 people, lay people and brothers from the Province of América Central, took part in the first meeting of this year’s Marist Oasis Formation Programme, which was held virtually, the theme being “The spiritual journey of Marcellin Champagnat”.

The meeting dealt with the origins of Champagnat: his family, his background, his first decisions and the circumstances in which the charism was developed. Brother Manuel Mesonero, PhD in “Spirituality of Marcellin Champagnat”, showed through different themes some little known aspects of the childhood and youth of Marcellin and the difficulties that the Marist founder encountered during this stage of his life.

In the three meetings of this year, the OASIS formation space will have as a common theme: “The spiritual journey of Marcellin Champagnat”. The next two meetings will deal with the following themes: Existential crisis. The passage from asceticism to mysticism; Spiritual childhood as a way of living simplicity.

The activities of the first meeting were very enlightening for all the participants, who discovered quite interesting features of Champagnat’s psychology. Br. Rodrigo Cuesta, in charge of the formation programme, thanked all the participants and invited them to pursue the topics discussed during the meeting by reading and sharing the materials provided, either personally, or in their fraternities, communities or other groups.

The second meeting of this year’s Oasis Programme will take place in June.