“Helping others anywhere, open and available wherever there is a need; like you, Champagnat, a universal heart, we will share our lives, our time, and our place”. We wanted to begin this brief note with a quote from the Kairoi Band, which conveys the spirit we live in this Marist community located in eastern France, next to the Swiss border. From this week on, we actually have a full house. With the arrival of the two missing members, we are now at maximum capacity and, inspired by Marcellin’s witness, with or hearts full of joy.
During the next few weeks, brothers, laity, and young people in our community will share more than meals, household chores, prayer, and work at the FMSI Office with the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland: we will share our lives, feelings, and our Marist way of being. The people presently living here are:
- Brother Evaristus Kasambwe (from the Province of Southern Africa, Malawi, who has already spent a year in the community).
- Gabriel Bernardo da Silva (Province of Brasil Centro-Sul, arrived in the community 3 weeks ago). Brother Jean-Claude Christe (Province of the Hermitage, Switzerland, 8 years in the community).
- Brother Manel Mendoza (Province of the Hermitage, Spain, 8 years in the community).
- Michael Lee (Province of Australia, arrived a month ago).
- Brother Patrick McNamara (Province of the United States, just arrived in the community).
- Brother Vicente Falchetto (Province of Brasil Centro-Norte, 4 years in the community).
This cultural richness adds a lot of value to our community experience as we gather around the same table, and belong to the same family, with one heart and one mind. Marcellin invited us to keep all the dioceses of the world in mind as the goal of our apostolic work. He was bold and invited us to be bold. In our community today, his “universal heart” challenges us to move in that direction through our availability to God’s plan.
May Mary, our Good Mother, bless all the Marists of Champagnat worldwide! May we continue walking through new and daring paths in search of a New Land every day!
