Blown Away By The Wind

So much is in flux in this prolonged age of transition. The certainties of the past are blown away by the wind, it seems, as we pursue our own paths, detached from the anchor that held us firm in a sea of invasions, revolutions, misinterpretations and misunderstandings, not to mention wars and genocides. The anchor we seem to have lost is God and the Church founded by Jesus upon the Rock, Peter, and continued through the centuries by his successors. It is sad to listen to studens who have not been brought up with any knowledge of God or connection with the Church, yet live a good, clean moral lives. It's shocking to learn that even some of our Catholic students do not know The Hail Mairy. The situation today is much like the encounter with Jean-Baptiste Montagne, the dying 17 year old who knew nothing of God and prompted Fr. Champagnat to found the Little Brothers of Mary. The need is here again, approaching the acute stage. All of us, consecrated brothers and lay Marists are being called to make a concerted effort to re-attach the anchor, to restart the mission with greater depth and zeal. Thankfully, this is happening in other parts of the Marist World and convocation after convocation of brothers and lay Marists meet to strategize for the future. And always we remember that in that blowing wind, the Holy Spirit is at work. "The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (Jn 3:8). So, we are not to panic, nor fall into discouragement. "All things work toward the good" (Rm 8: 28), even when the wind seems to be blowing everything away.
Bro. Rene