«Water from the Rock» flowing to the heart

Since the start of the Year of Spirituality last October, the Marist Brothers of Canada and their Marist lay groups have had the opportunity of drinking abundantly of the ?water from the rock.? The Province has desired to offer several occasions for spiritual renewal and refreshment in harmony with the seasons of the year. Brothers and laity have already signed up for these special opportunities at which they can drink from the springs of Marcellin?s spirituality.

At the start of December, the missionaries working in Haiti had such an important opportunity under the guidance of Brother Teofilo Minga. Here we may observe that the Haiti mission, founded in 1985, now involves a perpetually professed Haitian Brother, four Canadian Brothers and four Ad Gentes Brothers. The twelve younger men in formation are following their stage of formation: some in the novitiate (either that of Medellin, Colombia or that of Morelia, Mexico); some at the scholasticate in Guadalajara, Mexico; and some at the postulancy in Jérémie, Haiti. The experience under Brother Teofilo concluded with the first profession of three young Haitian Brothers who had returned to their country a few days before. They had just finished their two years at the novitiate named Lavalla located in Medellin. Around the Marist world, there are still many young people whose thirst for God is quenched at the ?Water from the Rock?

Afterwards, December 14 to 18, the second autumn retreat took place, this one at Maison Marie-Reine-des-C?urs, located in Drummondville. There, about forty participants had the chance to absorb, one chapter at a time, the leading ideas of the same document Water from the Rock. A Sister from the Congregation of Notre Dame, sibling of one of our Marist Brothers, summed up well the feelings of all who were present. She said that she was deeply touched by our spirituality and felt a kind of bond with it, according to the way the spirituality had been reflectively presented by Brother Teofilo who had led the session in such a dynamic way. We may observe here that one of the meditations, entitled ?The Eucharistic Person,? affected the retreatants with special force, in view of the important celebrations to be held in Quebec in June 2008: the 49th International Eucharistic Congress.

Bernard Beaudin, FMS