Today there are two slices of bread...Kids Do Pray, originally written on October 25 and this one on the meeting of Fr. Champagnat with the dying Jean Baptiste Montagne. I had to come to San Antonio to figure out how to publish the slice on the kids; wonders will never cease.
And truly, the wonder of today is that 197 years ago, the young,newly ordained Fr. Marcellin Champagnat responded to a sick call from the familiy of Jean Baptiste Montange, a 17 year old boy who was actually on his death bed. His lack of knowledge about God and our faith motivated the young curate to move quickly to implement his dream of founding an order of teaching brothers, for he wanted to prevent further such occurences. That meeting was the spark that ignited the founding of the Marist Brothers. Soon after his return to the village of LaValla, Fr. Champagnat encountered a young parishioner, Jean-Marie Granjon, and on a little bridge, proposed to him the idea of teaching catechism to youth, especially the most needy. Granjon agreed and Fr. Champagnat set out to borrow money, purchase a run down house, fix it up and move Granjon and another young man in on January 2, 1817. The Marist Brothers thus came to be.
Little do we know that what seems to be a random occurrence might be the catalyst for something greater in God's plan. May our eyes and ears be open today to see what unexpected invitations might come our way, not by chance, but in the plan of God.
Bro. Rene
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