Holy Simplicity

Simplicity is one of the key characteristics of Marist spirituality.  It means that "what you see is what you get".  No duplicity, no false fronts, but a sincerity that shines forth from the inner core of one's being.  St. John Marie Vianney, whose memorial is observed today, was a contemporary of St. Marcellin, having gone to the same seminary, and having been versed in the same spirituality, which put a high emphasis on holy simplicity.  Neither men were extraordinarily learned either in the wisdom of the world, or in the intricacies of sophisticated theology, but were masters in the ways of human behavior and in the ways of God.  Like the more recent exemplars of this virtue, Father Solanus Casey and St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio),  the Cure of Ars, was one of "the foolish of the world chosen to shame the wise, the weak of the world to shame the strong, and the lowly and despised of the world, who count for nothing, to reduce to those those are something, so that no human being might boast before God."  (cf. 1 Cor 1:25-29).
When we honestly look at ourselves, we most likely fit into this category to some degree.  It remains for us to accept our gifts, strengths and weaknesses, and allow God to work his wonders through them.
Bro. Rene