The Province of L’Hermitage promotes ecological conversion from the heart

Agnes Reyes (Philippines), co-director of the Institute’s Bureau of the Laity, facilitated a workshop on February 15th in Barcelona where we connected with personal experiences and delved into the meaning of ecological conversion. The thirty or so people who gathered there deepened their understanding of this very strong call in today’s world, which was also echoed by the 22nd General Chapter of the Marist Brothers in 2017 in Colombia. The workshop guided us to the biblical sources and to Marist spirituality. And all this from the passionate testimony of Agnes, who immediately empowered the young people who attended the workshop, asking them to lead the work in small groups.

As Marists of Champagnat we are invited to move from ego to echo. To change the paradigm from being centred on the ‘self’ to being centred on what is common to us and the fact that in essence we are all interconnected . We must feel the urgency for a change in lifestyle, to reconnect with what we may have ignored or forgotten: we are part of the earth, we are the earth and we cannot remain indifferent to what happens to the planet and what happens to our brothers and sisters anywhere in the world. Being connected to ourselves and to the source of life, God, must lead us to be sensitive, to become aware and to act now. It is urgent. For the planet and to humanise ourselves. The creation of the workshop is part of the initiatives promoted by the Bureau of the Laity of the Province of L’Hermitage through the Marist life animation teams of each country, in this case in Catalonia.

The participants in the workshop were very appreciative of the presence of Agnes Reyes for what she brought with her of originality and light, because she brought us closer through her emotions to a question that should be part of all formative experiences, of reflection and of action. And it meant one more step in our desire to strengthen the Marist community, offering spaces of growth for brothers and laypeople, young people and adults.

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Marist life animation team – Catalonia Secretariat of the Marist Laity L’Hermitage