Encountering Christ

Last evening the Marist Youth Encounter Christ retreat began in Esopus, NY with 75 students from Marist schools participating in this intense experience of discovery of Jesus and experience of him through the sacraments of Penance and Eucharist, the Scriptures and one another. Three students from Central Catholic will be making in Encounter, while one student will be a group leader, and the other, working in the kitchen. One of our teaches will be an adult group leader. It's a four hour drive to Esopus, and a considerable commitment of time, for it runs until Sunday at noon, and each day closes at midnight. Yet the results, a sense of a community of love, new friendships, and a desire for a deeper relationship with Jesus, are worth the effort. The support of our prayers is very important in this process, so may I ask for yours this weekend, and next Wednesday till Friday when 40 or more of our students will make an Encounter in Whitinsville, Massachusetts, an Encounter which has been potponed twice because of snow.
These Encounters are part of our mission "to make Jesus known and loved" and are thus a very important factor in the religious education and formation of our students. We have seen the power of grace at work in these Encounters since we began them in 1968. The difference in the students between the first day to the last is like night and day, and always provokes the comment, "It works." Let us lift up those making the Encounter and those leading it to Jesus and Mary.
Bro. Rene