Marist District of Asia – News Brief
News Brief 29 – September – December 2013
New Beginning
November can be a long month. It gets dark so early and the energy of summer seems a distant memory. But the season of winter is important and healthy. It puts us in touch with the need to pause, the need to be patient and that sometimes we have to journey in darkness.” James McSweeney
New beginning, new commissions, new country coordinators – where are we in all this sense of newness? Are these just words? These words talk about newness but yet we find ourselves in old wineskins, old ways of thinking as well as old customs and traditions that make it difficult for us to move ahead where the needs are more, allowing resistance and fears to remain. Each one of us, sometimes unconsciously, start to “nest”, to feel secure and at ease, not having to face challenges or changes.
Our first love seems like an old story and the routine and the lack of results brew boredom and stir temptation in some of us. Just as the disciples questioned the prophet on the road to Emmaus and said: “Yes, we believe but now it is already the third day!” we want to see results, to feel that we are needed and accepted. But in reality, this may not be what is asked of us. Perhaps for some of you, a silent and fragile presence, like the servant who waits on his master in the middle of the night, is what is needed of you. It is not easy but sometimes this is the cross we are asked to bear.
December is here and soon it will be January. We are invited to pray and reflect as the 2nd Marist International Mission Assembly approaches. What is the significance of this invitation? For some of us Nairobi seems so far away.
IN THIS ISSUE
* New Beginning
* Provincial and District Economes Meet
* Witnesses of the Faith
* From My Diary
* The Apostolic Community Experience Programme
* Our Backpacking Trip
* Let Us Go to New Lands
* Having the Cause of Children’s Rights at Heart (2)
* Marist Vocation Programme in Talit
* News from Samut Sakhon
* Hello from the Brothers, Children and Youth of Pailin
* Hanoi Scenes