Is 58:11
The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Jn 1: 19-28
John the Baptist Denies Being the Messiah
19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders[a] in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”
21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
22 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”[b]
24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent 25 questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26 “I baptize with[c] water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
As the Marist World celebrates the founding of the Marist Brothers in 1817, these readings help to pinpoint our on-going mission to make Jesus known and loved, strengthened and comforted by the promise of God's constant presence and guidance. The Mission of the Marist Brothers and Lay Cohorts is as needed and relevant as it was in post-Revolutionary France. As we look at that situation, we might exclaim, "What a mess!" but as we look at our own, we could easily exclaim the same thing. Yet, Marcellin, fired by a fervent desire to rectify the situation through education, did not let the obstacles stop him. So too, we cannot and are not letting today's huge obstacles stop us. There is much vitality in the Institute, young men are still joining us with that same desire to make Jesus known and loved. May we be confident that God will give us the grace necessary to achieve this end as he has for the past 204 years!
Bro. Rene
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