Crying Out In the Desert

Having bid farewell to 2017 and the "Days of Auld Lang Syne, and celebrated the arrival of a New Year with its dreams, hopes and promises, we appropriately, for us Marists, hear "the voice of one crying out in the desert" (Jn 1: 23) as we commemorate the fateful day when the young curate, Father Marcellin Champagnat, moved two young men into the house he bought and renovated with borrowed money and set in motion the dream he had been nurturing for several years, to establish a congregation of teaching brothers.No doubt he breathed a sigh of relief that first night around the supper table, but little did he know what demands, trials, disappointments and hard work awaited him.  For that night, all was well:  he and the young men had taken a major first step.  Eventually, they would begin teaching and, like the voice of the Baptist, would be heard crying out in the desert of ignorance, indifference, and even hostility a message of hope, of challenge and of love.
The voices of Marists today in concert with the "greats" of the past, St. Basil, St. Gregory Nazianzen whose memorial it is as well today, ring out to a world hungry for truth, for answers, for direction, meaning and love, and by word and example attempt to lead the youth of today and their families to a loving relationship with Jesus, enlisting the faithful, loving and nurturing aid of Mary, his mother. This is a day for all of us to be rejoicing and rededicating ourselves to this mission.
Bro. Rene