Note: I'll be away at Camp Champagnat, (Camp Marist in Effingham, NH) where it's difficult to find internet access...I'll try to send out the usual slice of bread, but if it doesn't appear, you know why.
It would seem that our Marist Spirituality finds its roots in Matthew 6: 1-6. 16-18 where Jesus tells his followers to give and pray in secret. This gospel passage is read on Ash Wednesday as we prepare for the six-week purification and training period when we are urged to pray, fast and give alms before Easter. Now at mid-year we read the same gospel to use as a measure of how much has "stuck" as a result of our Lenten efforts. We might renew these efforts with a deliberate concentration on the hidden nature of our prayers and good deeds. The long days of summer give us the opportunity for early or late prayer in the quietness of our homes, or even a perpetual adoration chapel in our parish...or somewhere outdoors...with Nature providing us the sanctuary where God's beauty and power are present. Such "hidden moments" can feed and refresh our souls and enable us to find the desire and will to extend our good works, quietly, without fanfare, and certainly without gloomy faces. It's summer, let us smile and let the "sunshine" of our deeds light up the faces of those around us.
Bro. Rene
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