The Laity commit themselves to make Jesus Christ known and loved
On July 1st, in Lardero, a ceremony was held to celebrate the linking to the Marist charism through the Iberian Province. This public gesture of linking and adherence to the Charism has been made by five lay persons from Pamplona (José Antonio Zazu Piramuelles, Marisol López Fernández, Irene González Antón, Rodrigo Espinedo Escalada and José Ignacio Hualde Gallego) and two from Zaragoza (José Antonio Negre Hernández de la Torre and Cristina Martinez Marques).
It has been a ceremony filled with sentiments and emotion celebrated within the Sunday Eucharistic celebration. Many persons have participated who wanted to share the joy of the encounter and of the recognized vocation: Brothers, companions and friends have celebrated this step in the life of these seven persons who, beginning today, are recognized as Marists.
The itinerary of lay linking to the Marist Charism is a proposal realized and promoted in the Province in coordination with the Marist Institute, in order to provide a process of formation for those persons who desire to deepen their being Christians in the example of Mary and in the tradition of Saint Marcellin Champagnat, and which culminates in a public recognition of the linking of the layman or laywoman to the Charism on the part of the Marist Institution. The proposal is fundamentally based on the discernment of the experiences lived and on personal accompaniment.
The formula for the linking has been the following:
In the presence of God our Father, our Good Mother and Marcellin Champagnat: after a process of discernment of my Christian vocation lived in the Marist Charism of Champagnat, I – desire and this is my will – to be recognized as a Marist layman/laywoman in our Iberian Province. I ask Brother Provincial Superior to be accepted into this family and I commit myself to take care and to live my faith, to share it in my community and with other Brothers and Marist Laity and to make Jesus Christ known and loved, constructing, with the help of the Spirit, a prophetic and Marian Church”.
