A Time of Promise

Advent is a time of promise: the promise of the birth of the Messiah, and the promise of his Second Coming at the end of time. Huge promises, but one already fulfilled, giving us hope that the second will also. Our own lives are engaged in a similar promise: that we will eventually grow fully into the persons we were intended to be from all eternity. A relief to know it will happen, despite our ups and downs.
In the Marist World, another huge surge of new life is underway on the shores beyond ours. The Marist Asian Pacific Solidarity movement includes initiatives sponsored by the Marist Solidarity Fund, which is investing $1.4 million to work with youth in Pakistan, India, Cambodia, East Timor, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, and Kribati. through the builidng of new schools and exchange programs.
There was recently a meeting in Mindelheim, Germany, of European Marists to brainstorm the revitalization of the Marist Charism throughout Europe, noted for its acute secularism. New ways of being Brother, new routes for Marist Life and Mission promise to counteract the tenor of the times.
And an amazing exchange took place in Istanbul between Greek and Turkish students from Marist schools. Greeks and Turks have long been at odds (to say the least), and this meeting of youth holds promise for the future, as these students make friends. We talked about the Wolf and the Lamb coming together as Isaiah predicted, and it is most encouraging to note that the Marist Brothers are in the midst of making that happen. Advent is not just a word, it is a concrete reality. Praise to God for our role in helping to bring alive the promises of old .
Bro. Rene