To form Vocation ? A living and formative experience
In April, twenty-two lay persons and six brothers of the Province of América Central gathered for five days to live a personal experience of prayer and silence, of encounter with ourselves, with God who loves us and calls us, with the brothers and the community, with Marcellin the man of faith, tenacity and commitment.
With Moses and the burning bush, we turn to experience that God is the call which burns in our hearts, “who has touched us” and invites us to follow him, and in journeying with Marcellin we observe that he “has given us a Marist heart….and that “we cannot live in any other way, WE ARE MARISTS”.
With the slogan: “One dream, one journey, one vocation”, we invited the Brothers and a group of laity of the commission to take part in a time of formation with the objective of fostering in a group of lay men and women a personal experience of searching for a personal way of discerning and opting for living the Marist charism on the basis of the spirituality.
These are some of the testimonies of those who took part in this vocational experience:
“I have discovered that the charism is something I entirely want to receive, that I want to live my life with a Marist colour. That there are more things which unite us laity and brothers than differences. That we have the same vocation: as humans, as Christians, as Marists, but with different life options. Then I believe and feel, by conviction, that the way of brothers and laity is a definitive way of communion, in which we who choose it commit ourselves to working with love and wholeheartedly for the Kingdom”. (Ana Saborío. Colegio Marista Alajuela. Costa Rica)
“I feel grateful for this experience which has allowed us to rethink and welcome our call to be the leaven of the good news which God is presenting to the world through our charism”. (Lilian Cóbar. Escuela San Alfonso. El Salvador).
“My experience in Formar Vocación has been for me a unique experience. It has been a crossroad. The sharing with other brothers and persons from other countries has made me feel I am not alone, I am accompanied. I know it will not be easy, but I have faith that I will certainly be able to respond to the mission we all have…everything for God!!” (Marianela Rosado Bonefont. Colegio Marista Guaynabo, Puerto Rico).
“I have ended the meeting of Formar Vocación, feeling myself accompanied, strengthened, liberated and with new energy to accomplish what I wrote in my life project, knowing that I am an instrument of God and that a whole life would not be enough for me to thank the Lord for the million blessings received, and as Father Champagnat says: “If the Lord does not build the house, the builders work in vain”. (Alma Judith García Salas Lemus. Colegio Liceo Guatemala. Guatemala)
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Nohemy Pinto
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