MESSAGE

The reference text is in French

BROTHER,

1. We are happy to send this message to you, because you’ve been part of this 19th Chapter by your prayers and by the interest you’ve shown in its preparation and its progress. This is first and foremost a brotherly invitation to all of us to live together a new stage of our history, and to carry on the life of our Institute with Daring and Hope.

2. You had an opportunity to express your thoughts and hopes while we were preparing this Chapter. We took the time to listen to everything our Brothers wanted to share with us. Your contributions were very enriching and we thank you for them. What we heard in them was a great thirst for a return to our wellsprings, and a determination to be more faithful to what Marcellin Champagnat wanted us to be. We strongly felt the desire of many Brothers to lead a more generous religious life in the face of the urgent needs of the world in which we live.

3. As for us, during these past two months we have been living an exceptional religious experience. We have all been enriched by learning to bridge our differences and to share very deeply across barriers of language and culture. Once we got beyond our diversity, we were able to experience the powerful bonds between us, which told us that deep down inside, we all belong to the same family, hold the same values and share the same concerns. That is why we want to share with you today the convictions we now hold.

THE CRY OF THE WORLD

4. We come from every corner of the world and we have heard the cries of the world in the voices of our Brothers.

5. They have become "signs of the times" for us.We heard:

—       The cry of pain from so many poor people all over the world, who are simply swept aside and left by the side of the road.

—       The cry of distress from all those young people who are out of work and whose talents are considered to be of no account.

—       The cry which rises from the silence of all those who are rejected, all those who have no voice, no freedom, all those who are desperately lonely.

—       The cry of despair from so many young people who are trying to make sense out of their life and who are seeking happiness in illusory paradises.

The injustice of the structures which create so much suffering cries out to heaven. ¹

6. We heard:

—       The cry of the street children, abandoned and condemned to a subhuman existence.

—       The cry of the children who are the unjust victims of hunger and war.

—       The cry of the children who are discouraged by their failure in school.

—       The cry of the children of divorced parents and broken homes.

—       The cry of children who are abused or who sell their bodies.

Behind their suffering faces hides the face of Jesus. ²

Behind all their cries echoes the cry of Jesus from the cross. ³

7. But there are also cries of hope:

—       from all those who dedicate themselves to promoting human rights,

—       from all those who build peace,

—       from all those who push back the tide of misery,

—       from all those who share in the mission of education,

—       from all those involved in the struggle for respect for life,

—       from all those involved in the effort to safeguard all of creation.

—       from all those who announce the Good News.

These cries of hope make the seed of the Kingdom germinate and give proof of the presence of the Spirit. ⁴

DEEP WITHIN OUR LIVES

8. During these days, as we shared together as brothers and lived a profound faith experience, we became far more deeply aware of the convictions by which we live:

BUILT UPON THE ROCK

9. We believe that God loves this world, with all its inconsistency, violence and contradictions. He loves each one of us just as we are.

Out of love for this world, Jesus shared our humanity totally, making us his brothers and sisters.

He is still with us today through his Spirit working in the heart of every man and woman. He does far more than we will ever realize.

10. God is still carrying on his incarnation through all those who want to follow Jesus in their different vocations. This community of believers, the Church in the midst of the world, has a mission: to announce the Good News. We are the People of God, walking side by side with all those who share our faith and with every person of good will.

RETURNING TO OUR ROOTS

11. In a very special way, we Marist Brothers want to get back to the lifegiving root from which we have grown: Marcellin Champagnat. Once God’s loving gaze sank into him, he felt a powerful urge to live the Gospel in the way Mary did.

Like Mary at Cana, Marcellin remained attentive, and then committed himself. Like Mary in her Magnificat, he denounced injustice and offered concrete responses to the needs of his time. She was his model for both listening and responding.

During this Chapter, we repeatedly returned to his "Montagne experience". We believe that we have sprung from a gospel experience of solidarity. Marcellin already had the idea of founding the Brothers, but this incident literally set him in motion; he recognized it as the call of the Holy Spirit. He foresaw all of us in the eyes of that uneducated young man. And that incident is still the wellspring of our response today to the signs of our own times.

SOWERS OF THE GOOD NEWS

12. At the end of these two months of togetherness and sharing, we are more than ever convinced that our vocation as Marist Brothers is Good News for this day and age:

—       As lay religious, we make a prophetic statement about one way to create Church, one which relies more on community and participation, a family of brothers and sisters, each with his or her own charism.

—       As Christian educators, we show the young people in our schools and other apostolates that there is a necessary harmony among faith, culture and life, between being a committed Christian and a committed citizen. That is how we go about liberating "every person and everything in the person". ⁵

—       Our "pedagogy of presence" and our family spirit make a powerful impact on a society which often breeds selfishness, individualism and loneliness.

—       Mary’s attitudes, as we try to practice them in our own lives, make the motherly face of God a visible reality.

—       The simple lifestyle we are called upon to live challenges the inherent weakness of our consumer society and the fragility of its idols, and puts the accent where it belongs: on the true value of the person.

NEW CALLS

13. We arrived at the Chapter after having lived our Pilgrimage of Solidarity. It left its mark on each of us, on our attitudes, our judgements, our heart.

14. The few days which fourteen laypeople spent with us during this Chapter were certainly an historic moment. With them, and thanks to them, we became more conscious that the only way for us to take on our mission in the Church is in close communion with them.

SO LET’S GET GOING!

15.     If we’re really interested

—       in hearing the cry of the world and in living our faith,

—       in being faithful to our origins and in contributing to the new evangelization,

—       in committing ourselves to the most neglected,

—       in believing, like Abraham, that we can be fruitful even in our old age, then we have a daily invitation to conversion, to "getting a move on".

           If we want to follow Jesus, like Mary, in the footsteps of Marcellin Champagnat:

16.     Let’s move away from activism and a spiritual life which depends too much on exercises of piety, toward a unified life, which makes room for the presence of God in our life and the presence of life in our prayers:

— finding God in meeting others,

— repeating Mary’s YES at every moment,

— being Brother and Apostle our entire life.

17. Let’s move away from living together as individuals, toward living more as a community. We can’t sidestep the words of one young layman at the Chapter: "I keep meeting wonderful Brothers, but I don’t see any community", nor can we evade his challenge: "Open up your communities so we can share with you whatever it is gives you life"!

18. Let’s set out boldly on the road towards inculturation, by adapting our Marist lifestyle to the culture of the place where we happen to be. That also holds true when it comes to knowing, understanding and accepting young people as they are and "where they’re at".

19. Let’s make real partners of everyone who wants to share in our spirituality and our Mission. Let’s take the risk of losing a little power and be daring enough to collaborate freely with laypeople, not because there are far fewer of us now, but because we recognize their vocation and mission as baptized Christians.

20. Let’s be daring enough to give up some of our security so as to get closer to the poor and to all the others who don’t count for much. Let’s not be afraid to become involved with all those people who live on the fringes of society.

21. Let’s become witnesses more than teachers, so that we can be "brothers to young people", and give them principles by which to live and not just a diploma with which to get a job. As catechists, let’s be enthusiastic announcers of the Good News.

22. Let’s pull over to the side for a moment and evaluate our present ministries, to see if they match the criteria we set for our mission today (avoiding elitism and running after prestige), and let’s be brave enough to make any needed changes.

23. Let us make greater efforts to be in solidarity with each other beyond the boundaries of our own provinces. May our generosity increase as we share our human and financial resources.

SOME GUIDE-POSTS AS WE MOVE AHEAD

24. Let’s be "Champagnats for today", to live all these challenges boldly. Let’s take the means to check how faithful we really are to what Marcellin expected of us.

25. Discernment: the Holy Spirit will help us read the signs of the times and then take the right decisions for living out our Mission.

26. Formation: The Institute is called to put everything it can into continuing the efforts already made in this area. The dynamics of formation will help us better understand our world and how it’s evolving, to live in greater fidelity to our consecration, and to give better service to those to whom we are sent. Each Brother’s personal formation will be what he himself makes it.

Initial formation helps a young Brother to lay a solid foundation for fidelity to his vocation.

Ongoing formation makes it possible for every Brother to be creative in carrying out some type of animation or exercising various respon-sibilities; older Brothers can use their apostolic potential as their strength permits, and inspire happiness and confidence.

THE INSTITUTE MAKES A COMMITMENT

27. The Chapter asks the Institute to give priority to its committment to the most needy:

Each Province will undertake a process of discernment.

Following this discernment, it will put into action, during the next four years, at least one major program involving Marist presence among the most neglected children and young people.

This program sould be planned and implemented in collaboration with the laity.

28. The Chapter asks the Institute to further its knowledge and lived experience of our Marist Apostolic Spirituality.

As part of this discernment process, each province is called on to draw up a Provincial Plan which will smoothly integrate Mission, Community Life and Prayer.  Each Brother is urged to carry out his personal Life Project in the same spirit.

29. The Chapter asks the Institute to continue its efforts in the area of Formation. The Chapter officially adopts the Formation Guide.  In its Community Life Plan, each comunity will establish times and ways for assimilating the Guide, as a means of furthering personal and community growth.

NISI DOMINUS

30. Brother, as we come to the end of our message, all of us Capitulants want to tell you about the Hope we have drawn from these two months of fraternal sharing. This Hope is the basis of our assurance that our Institute is going to take on new vitality.

As we face the task ahead of us, let us put our faith in God alone, as Marcellin did: "unless the Lord.."

With your help, this refoundation will succeed!