Workshop for vocation animators in the Province of México Occidental
Within the scope of the celebrations of the Marist Vocation Year in the Institute, a Workshop for Vocation Animators was held in the city of Morelia (in the centre of Mexico), This workshop was organised for the brothers who are the vocation co-ordinators in each of the communities of our Province of México Occidental. This event took place from the 14th to the 17th October 2004 and twenty-five brothers participated in it. It was co-ordinated by the brothers of the Province?s Vocation Ministry Commission, and the attorney Lucía Rostro Rivera, who works on the Provincial Commission for the Formation of the Laity, led some of the sessions. We were also fortunate to have our Brother Provincial, Victor Manuel Preciado, present during these few days.
This small workshop gave us the opportunity to acquire some useful tools for the promotion and accompaniment of vocations in each of our communities but it was also an occasion for the sowing of hope. All of us know that, in talking about vocations, there have not been easy times. But returning to the house where many of us had made our novitiate allowed us to reflect on the reality of the young people with whom we live and we were able to take off our shoes in order to step onto the sacred ground of vocational accompaniment and succeeded in rekindling the fire in many of our hearts.
In the final part of the workshop, we were able to contemplate on a beautiful mosaic formed by the names of the young people whom we can invite to start the process of vocational accompaniment this year. There were many names. With our hearts burning within us, the presence of God felt very close through these small pieces of paper. The Marist Brothers who were present in the chapel of the house where we made our novitiate are witnesses to the fact that it is worth being a Marist Brother today. Champagnat?s dream continues to live strongly today, and needs our hands to make Jesus and Mary known by many children and young people.