Going In Haste To A New Land

The Holy Spirit gave Marists the commission at the end of the last General Chapter "to go with Mary in haste to a new land." Three elements stand out: 1) with Mary, 2) in haste, 3) a new land. As Marists we continue to walk with Mary as our first Superior, "truly our sister", and the model of discipleship. As Champagnat lived always with a sense of urgency to get things done, not waste time "in committee", and to move, move move foward, so too that same urgency should impel us now. And the "new land"...symbolic of needed change and adaptation of our charism to the needs of our time.
Significantly, Br. Emili Turu, our Superior General, recently addressed a commission of laity gathered at the Generalate in Rome to study and strategize a new awareness that has been growing in the Congregation since the days of Br. Charles Howard, recently deceased former Superior General who was the first to write a circular on the place of the laity in the Marist World. Br. Emili now says that the Marist lay vocation is a gift of the Holy Spirit and as valid a calling as the call to the Marist Brotherhood. The "new land" that this opens up for us, first of all, demands a dying to old divisions and prejudices (i.e. that the vocation of the brother is "superior" to that of the layman, and that attitudes must change to create a valid and solid relationship between brothers and laity: a communion of people, of vital forces, to meet the challenges of the times. Again, boldness and daring is being required. As the two provinces of Australia collaborate to form a new province, with new energy and goals, so too a deeper relationship with the laity to make our Marist mission even more effective in the very near future is coming into focus. This is a refreshing and life-giving move and we are all privileged, if not called, to be part of it.
Bro. Rene