Lent 2014 - Society of Mary, Marists in the US

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Today’s
MARISTS
Published by the Society of Mary US Province
Lent 2014
A Cross-Cultural Look at Lent
and Holy Week: Peru and Venezuela
Table of Contents:
A Cross-Cultural Look
at Lent and Holy Week: Peru
and Venezuela - p 1, 3, 4
Provincial’s Reflection - p 2
Br. Roland Bernier, S. M.
Remembered - p 5
“Why I Support the
Marists” - p 5
Vocations - p 6
Lourdes Center Boston
Celebrates 50 Years - p 7
The Marist Brother (FMS)
Martyrs of the Spanish Civil
War of 1936 - p 8
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www.societyofmaryusa.org
By Fr. Anthony OʼConnor, S.M.
Editor’s Note: Marist Father O’Connor, a New Zealander by birth, currently serves in
Brownsville, TX, but for many years ministered in Peru. For this Lenten edition of Today’s Marists,
Fr. O’Connor shares experiences of Lent in South America with us.
B
ecause the Catholic Church is by definition universal, the world’s Catholics will
find much consistency across global religious observances during Lent and Holy Week.
Yet in some locations, cultural nuances influence
these faithful expressions, and Americans might
find some interesting cross-cultural differences
in force during this religious season in other parts
of the world.
For example, in Peru, the Holy Week celebrations in Ayacucho, where until recently Marist
Luis Sebastiani S.M. had been Archbishop, there
are centuries-old traditions that distinguish the
holy season. The ceremonies begin on the Friday
before Palm Sunday with the re-enactment of the
meeting between Christ and his Mother (Our
Lady of Sorrows). This is followed by evening
processions each day and, on Good Friday, culminates with very solemn rites. Ayacucho is a
place with a long history of sorrows. The Saturday and Sunday celebrations take on a markedly
different and festive tone.
Peru, Catholics begin preparing for Holy Week a
year in advance. Festivities begin with the Palm
Sunday procession, with an effigy of Christ carried on a Donkey, and end on Easter Sunday with
fireworks and the release of hundreds of birds.
In Cusco, capital of the Inca Empire, Semana
Santa observances revolve around the Señor de
los Temblores. Legend has it that the statue of
Christ, sent by Philip V of Spain to aid in the
conversion of the Indians, became emaciated and
blackened following an earthquake on May 31,
1650. The statute, now resembling the native
population, has been revered since as the Cristo
de los Temblores (Christ of the Earthquakes).
The ambient atmosphere is peppered with firecrackers, and colorful hangings woven in gold
thread, placed in the windows of the houses lining the way.
Archbishop Sebastiani began his episcopal ministry in a place called Tarma, known colloquially
as The Pearl of the Andes, for its scenic beauty.
The place comes alive on Easter with a flowerfilled celebration. The streets, where the procession passes, are covered in carpets and arches of
flowers. The cold night processions in candlelight finish up with a cup of hot tea spiked with
lemon and cane sugar alcohol for the people to
“warm the cockles of their hearts.”
Processions, live Stations of the Cross and special foods are hallmarks in both Peru and
Venezuela. The most famous of Peru’s processions is Lord of the Miracles in Lima, where up
to a million devotees follow the image in a long
funeral march on Good Friday. The Lord of the
Miracles is a copy of a Christ painted on an
adobe brick wall by an African slave from Angola. Two seventeenth-century natural disasters
destroyed all of the wall’s surroundings; the first,
an earthquake in 1655 was followed by a tidal
wave in 1687. All buildings were razed to the
ground, only the wall remained. The image in the
procession is an oil-painted copy of the original.
In Huaraz, a community found at the base of the
famous Mount Huascaran, the highest peak of
In northern Peru, Ayabaca is a town some 2.815
meters above sea level in the Department of
continued on page 3
Provincial’s Reflection Lent 2014
Y
ou will notice soon a new page
on our website at www.SocietyofMaryUSA.org created to
bring forward our principal concerns in
the area of Justice, Peace, and Integrity
of Creation. While a mouthful, this
phrase is used by the Catholic Church
and Catholic religious orders (as well as
other churches) to express and focus our
concerns about the social dimension of
our mission as a Church and a religious
congregation.
#21. In its statement of the mission,
the 1985 General Chapter called all
Marists to give priority to work with
the poor. This present Chapter asks
provinces, districts, and delegations to
ensure that their pastoral plans contain
concrete ways in which Marists can
Unless our ministries and mission are affecting the lives of those who are materially poor and marginalized in some
concrete ways, our Church and Marist
documents would say that our mission is
not truly being fulfilled, however busy we
are. As Pope Francis has been saying, the
Good News of Jesus Christ would agree.
• Be in solidarity with those who
are involved in the struggle for
justice.
Our Marist Constitutions could not be
clearer on this point:
#12. …. They (Marists) attend especially
to the most neglected, the poor, and
those who suffer injustice. They are
ready to carry out these tasks anywhere
and at any time.
#111. They (Marists) should be attentive to the cry of the poor which makes
an urgent and continuous appeal for a
conversion of minds and attitudes. They
acknowledge that action for justice is an
integral part of the proclamation of the
Gospel and they strive, therefore, to
remedy injustice in economic and social
relationships.
Three international General Chapters of
the Society (1985, 2001, and 2009) made
the same point but in more practical
ways:
#15. As members of one human family, reverencing the beauty and integrity of God’s creation, we commit
ourselves to seek for a more just and
compassionate life that respects
human rights, especially those of the
weakest.
#16. We work for the recognition of
the dignity of women and their participation In the Church and in all walks
of life.
p. 2
• Be informed of social issues, thus
raising consciousness of the present reality;
• Be in direct contact with those
who are on the economic margins of society;
This specific work with our website and
better focus on the issues that affect our
mission here in the US and around the
world also responds to a particular decision of our 2009 General Chapter:
#22. In light of the Church’s and our
own Society’s commitment to justice,
peace and the integrity of creation as
central to our mission for the reign of
God, each province and district will
establish a mechanism, such as a Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation
Commission, to assist in the coordination of this ministry throughout the
Society and to establish concrete ways
in which Marists … can accomplish
the work (in paragraph 21 just mentioned).
Our own Provincial Chapter of the US
Province of the Society of Mary last
summer clarified our Province criteria
for choice of ministries with this final
point:
Setting Priorities in Ministry: Criteria
C(5) (a ministry) furthers our preferential option for the poor, evidenced
by a conscious and effective sensitivity for the plight of the poor, forgotten,
and abandoned.
These fundamental values of the Society
are not just for our website or a province
committee, but firstly need to characterize
the quality of our ministries throughout
the United States. The Constitutions also
say that “Marists prefer to be known by
their work with the poor and abandoned
rather than through
publicity.”
The
Marist Brothers
say in one of their
documents some- Father Ted Keating,
where that their S.M., Provincial
“habit” should be
most evident as their own preferential option for the poor and the neglected.
But without some clear focus, the effort
would be an insurmountable task. For our
purposes as Marists, we have chosen to
zero in and focus on some clear areas of
concern with respect to our direct work
in the area of Justice, Peace and Integrity
of Creation:
•
A “seamless garment” approach to
the life issues in protecting “human
life at all its stages from conception
to natural death,” to use the phrase of
the US Bishops, including the death
penalty and issues of child health
care, nutrition, and education, critical
to their rights and welfare;
•
A focused concern on the US immigration issues, including the painful
causes of migration around the world
as an international congregation and
the protection of the human dignity of
immigrants here in the US;
•
Close attention to the consequences of
global warming and climate issues
since they are already affecting our
missions in the South Pacific with islands being inundated; also education
about issues affecting our other mission territories around the world
(Africa, Asia, the Philippines, and
Latin America);
•
Better collaboration with other religious congregations by using our investments to help keep corporations
sensitive to many the same issues.
So keep your eyes open for changing
and shifting materials on the website in
this area. We have always seen you as
part of our mission and hope you might
collaborate with us on these issues as
well.
Fr.Ted Keating, S.M.
www.societyofmaryusa.org
A Cross-Cultural
Look at Lent and
Holy Week: Peru
and Venezuela
continued from page 1
Crowds gather for Lord of Miracles in Lima.
With the collective
memory of suffering and
death of the people and
the difficulties of life they
have had to face, and still
do, especially the poor, the
center of attention seems
to be the Passion and
Death of Jesus.
Piura, there is a wood sculptured statue of
Lord Captive of Ayabaca. This image, with
its copies throughout Piura and Ecuador, is
the Nazarene of the poor and especially the
poor country folk who come to pay homage.
Then finally in Callao, the port city of Lima,
where the Marists Fathers have lived and
worked since 1949, we have another beautifully sculptured Lord of the Sea where once
again on this day devotees reflect on Jesus’
suffering and death.
In Venezuela, Lenten religious observances
may appear to fall into second place, as people flock to the beaches — while, of course,
many do stay home for the ceremonies.
Holy Week begins with the celebration of
the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem
on Palm Sunday. On Wednesday, the statue
of the Nazarene goes in procession and
devotees pay homage and thank him for favors. The most dramatic part of the week is
the Stations of the Cross, a hauntingly lifelike performance of Jesus’ death on the
Cross that is frighteningly realistic.
Peruvian and Venezuelan Catholics share the
custom of creating ornate Altars of Repose
on Holy Thursday for adoration of the Eucharist. The ritual involves visiting seven
churches. Adoration can go on until midnight, or beyond, and then, into the next
morning — Good Friday. Holy Thursday
night is particularly busy as people cross the
city to visit their seven churches. During
Lent many places hold Friday Stations of the
Cross, with the 14 stations re-enacted at the
door of a family home and officiated by lay
people.
These descriptions, by no means account for
the entire sweep of the Lenten and Holy
Week festivities in Peru and Venezuela. It is
important to place them into historical contexts not shared by other cultures, including
ours in America. Without meaning any criti-
cism to the Spanish and Portuguese, it is said
that the evangelization and colonization of
the Americas-of-the-South were by the
“Cross and the Sword.” The missionaries and
soldiers of the respective kings went handin-hand or were seen to be so: the soldiers
with the “sword” and the missionaries
preaching the “Cross.” The pre-conquest history, and the conquests themselves, recount
great suffering of the people.
And so faced with the Good News, the people immediately identified and still do with
the Cross. The religious practice of faith has
centered on identification with the “suffering servant” of Isaiah, the “crucified one” —
the “Nazarene.” With the collective memory
of suffering and death of the people and the
difficulties of life that they have had to face,
and still do, especially the poor, the center
of attention seems to be the Passion and
Death of Jesus rather than his Resurrection
and the empty tomb. Attendance at the Holy
Thursday and Good Friday liturgies, and
more so the non-liturgical passion enactments outside the temples, are attended in
far greater numbers than the Vigil on Holy
Saturday and the Mass of Resurrection on
the Sunday. Palm Sunday sees many coming to get a palm as if it has special powers
and on Easter Sunday they come with their
bottle to receive the Easter water. People
with a sound formation in the faith attend the
vigil as the Church would like but the majority with their popular religiosity do not.
I believe that the majority, although they center on Good Friday, do believe in the Resurrection, theirs as well as that of our Lord. It
is as if their centering on the Passion and the
Death, the suffering, theirs and the Lord’s, is
an affective liberation and an affirmation of
what the entire Easter Triduum signifies. In
celebrating so fully, heart and soul, the effects of violence, helplessness and suffering
continued on page 4
p. 3
A Cross-Cultural Look at Lent and Holy Week:
Peru and Venezuela from page 3
of the Lord as they walk hand-in-hand with one
another in procession, or in live stations in the
street, they celebrate their own rising from sin
and death as Jesus Christ has come to permit
them to do. I think it humbling for the Church
and the Church-goers to receive this witness.
Perhaps Pope Francis would agree.
Significance of the Stations of the Cross are
not missed by the young
Lord of the Sea, Callao, Peru.
Some years ago, little three-year-old Jorge
(George) brought this all home to me and my
Marist brother, Fr. Paul Frechette S.M., in
Callao, Peru. With much loving effort, and
guided by Fr. Paul, the youth had prepared a
script and special costumes for a Stations of the
Cross in the shanty in which he lived. With the
soldiers in their cardboard uniforms and the holy
women, their eyes alight in their coiled round
bed sheets and silk veils, the stations began in a
broken-down park with few in attendance. We
entered the shanty of “San Judas Tadeo,” all the
actors in the scene, and Christ with them, in fact
one of them. From station to station we walked,
sang and prayed, down the narrow muddy corridors wet and slushy from blocked drainage and
leaking water works, walking, singing, praying
in the darkness of the night—children, youths,
adults, old people, accompanied by dogs and
music and the sound of an angry sea battering
the stone wall some 100 meters way.
In the darkness I felt a tiny hand grab mine. I
looked down to find a small frizzy-haired boy
with innocent shining eyes is meeting
my gaze. He couldn’t have been more
than three years old.
Lord of Miracles in Lima.
p. 4
“Are they going to
nail him?” he asked.
“It would seem so,” I
replied.
“Where are they
going to nail him?”
“Around the corner,”
I assured him, while
feeling the heat of
his dirty little hand in
mine.
“Around the corner?”
“Yes around the corner.”
“Are they going to nail him around the corner?”
“That’s right, when we get around the corner.”
We went around many corners, through the mud
and in the darkness of the night, down corridors,
up passageways, past roughly-built houses of
timber or adobe brick. Sometimes a single naked
electric light showed us the way. We stumbled
one foot after the other. Each station was cared
for by the family upon whose door it hung. Outside their home they had erected a small altar: a
table, a picture or a statue of Jesus, the Virgin
Mary or some saint. I continued to accompany
the people with the little hand in mine “Are they
going to nail him? Where are they going to nail
him?” he kept asking.
We rounded the final corner and arrived at “Golgotha,” a crossing in the main street of the
shanty. We were met by a crowd, replete with
drunks, and cocaine sniffers. It was difficult to
see the actors. We heard the sharp strikes of the
hammer and I looked down and said to my little
friend “I think they are nailing him.”
The little hand in mine moved and his voice
rose up.
“Where are they nailing him? I can’t see a
thing!”
I lifted the little one onto my shoulders. With his
bare foot, coated with grime, almost in my
mouth, little Jorge bent down and with a very serious and astonished look on his face said: “They
have nailed him to the Cross.”
For Jorge, it was a blatant undeniable fact “They
have nailed Christ to the Cross.”
Afterwards, in the little chapel during the veneration of the Cross, little Jorge, completely absorbed by the figure on the crucifix, went up at
least three times to kiss Jesus, his feet, his side,
his face.
Returning home that night, I asked myself why
have we forgotten the signs and symbols? Why
in the liturgies in our Churches, when we enact
these events, do we not imbue them with the
gripping core of the experience we are re-enacting? Why do we move through motions and
miss what a poor, neglected child at the age of
three can grasp and carry within fully?
www.societyofmaryusa.org
Brother Roland Bernier, S.M.
remembered: The Life of A Marist Builder
By Paul Carr, Development Director and Fr. Al DiIanni, S.M.
B
r. Roland Bernier, S.M. began his Marist
journey in a very Marist way. He saw a
need and followed his faith and instinct
to help.
His sister Jeanette, a Marist Sister (SMSM), related the following story to Fr. Al DiIanni, S.M.,
shortly after her brother’s death last September.
Raymond Bernier, Roland and Jeanette's brother,
was a Marist brother for about seven years. One
day, Br. Raymond was sent to Maine to pick up a
young man who was interested in becoming a
Marist. But when Raymond met the young man, he learned that the fellow had
‘cold feet’ and had decided not to enter religious life. Br. Raymond went to the
Bernier home in Maine and told his family what had happened. He expressed
concern that he was going back to the Seminary “empty-handed.” At that, his
brother Roland perked up and said: “I’ll go.” And that is how Br. Roland
Bernier entered the Society of Mary. No fanfare. Just answering a need.
Br. Roland spent his Marist life building things for other people. For 19 years,
from 1958 to 1977, Br. Roland served in the Marist missions of Oceania, in
Vanuatu. Following a destructive tidal wave, Br. Roland was asked to rebuild
a church and rectory. Following this experience, he formed a construction company with French Marist missionary Fr. Paul Monnier, S.M. Their labor was
given freely and their first creation was a girls’ school, complete with dormitories and an apartment for the Sisters who taught there. This led to further
collaborations which resulted in the building of six churches and rectories, six
convents, six medical clinics and numerous other structures including teacher
residences, water towers and more, each of which helped fortify the Catholic
presence on the island.
Br. Roland’s building skills were exercised frequently on internal Marist projects, including the renovations of several buildings. He was the force behind
the conversion of the Marists’ Framingham, MA building, when it was changed
from a seminary into a building with a two-fold purpose: a retreat house and
a residence for senior Marists. Almost singlehandedly, he would gut out three
small rooms in order to create one larger room and a bath for each elderly and
retired Marist resident.
When Br. Roland passed away on September 17, 2013 at Waltham, Massachusetts, he was eulogized by Fr. DiIanni:
“I thank Brother Roland for his life of gentle service, for his many years of very
skilled and dedicated work in the missions of Vanuatu and for many, many
hours of ardent labor back here in the United States, at Framingham, the Lourdes Center and Our Lady of Victories (Shrine in Boston). I thank him for his
gentle nature, warmth, ready laugh, simplicity and his brotherhood. In your
final hours, Roland, when your strength gave way, the Lord alone was your
strength. We give you, then, to the Lord and to Mary our Mother. We ask you
to intercede for us before the Lord now, face-to-face. Intercede for us as
friends, intercede for us as one family, united as brothers and sisters.”
Todayʼs Marists
Why I Choose
to Support the
Marists
By Marybeth Nolan, Jacksonville, FL
I came to know the Marists several years
ago through a friend who had been a
parishioner and frequent volunteer at a
parish where they ministered. In conversations with her, and by thumbing through
materials she shared, I began to notice evidence of their work in schools and
churches and eventually came to admire
the quiet, dignified way in which the Marists
seemed to carry out their ministries.
I began to recognize also that while
the Marists in this country do not have
particularly great numbers, they do seem
to have strength in their commitments
and are not passive about helping people
find the way to the Good News with the
help of Our Lady. It seems that they are
effective and progressive in their work as
educators and pastors and they do not
stand around waiting for pats on the
back. My impression is that Marists work
closely with lay people and have done so
since their founding.
I once thumbed through a brief history
of the Marists and was struck by the powerful presence they had in the developing
Church in America, particularly in French
areas. I know also that the they are involved in ministries around the world
with commitments in missions in the
States and abroad, ministering to the
needs of the people in the margins of
society, giving a helping hand while
teaching skills to enable people to
move toward self-sufficiency.
With their subtle and effective qualities
in ministries, the realities of their good
work, and the fact that they are serious
about finding new Marists for the Church
of tomorrow, I choose to help the Marists
with a financial donation when I can to
help them achieve a path toward greater
numbers in the future and the perpetuation of an Order that helps us all.
p. 5
Vocations
Come and
See Weekend:
A Journey of
Discovery
By Jack Ridout, Director of Vocations
Fr. Puccinelli is celebrant at Come and See Weekend Mass in
Waltham, MA chapel.
T
his past October, the Marist Fathers and Brothers
sponsored a Come and See weekend for young men
in Waltham, MA. They came from as close as New
Bedford and Boston, MA and as far away as Florida and
Ohio to further explore Marist religious life.
There are several choices in choosing a path in life, namely
remaining single, getting married or life as a diocesan
priest, religious priest or brother. These men, Adam Campbell, Daniel Wisniewski, Sean McKiernan and Daniel
Mello have been discerning a call to the consecrated life,
and felt that they wanted to go to the next step, and meet
with members of the Society of Mary for a weekend of
talks and prayer with others who are thinking the same
thing.
Come and See weekend coordinators (L to R): Jack Ridout, Fr. Al
Puccinelli, S.M. and Fr. Paul Frechette, S.M.
Weekend participants (L to R): Adam Campbell, Sean McKiernan,
Andrew Wisniewski and Daniel Mello.
The weekend was coordinated by Marist Fathers Paul
Frechette, S.M., Director of Postulants, Al Puccinelli, S.M.,
Postulant Socius and Mr. Jack Ridout, Director of Vocations for the USA Province of the Society of Mary. The
weekend consisted of discussions, a DVD about vocational
discernment, personal sharing, one on one interviews,
Mass, prayer and vocation journeys from all concerned
which enhanced the purpose of the weekend, to come and
see what religious life is about.
For the first time, members of the broader Marist family
participated in the weekend: Br. Mike Sheerin, FMS of the
Marist Teaching Brothers and Sr. Palepa Ioane, SMSM, a
Marist Missionary Sister. Br. Mike and Sr. Palepa, as vocation directors for their own Marist congregations,
brought their own unique insights about vocations and
Marist spirituality to the young men attending the weekend. In addition, Sr. Palepa graciously planned and provided the music for our liturgies.
The facilities and grounds of the Espousal Center in
Waltham provided the perfect setting for contemplation
and prayer for those seeking where God is leading them in
their life.
Come and See weekend team members Br. Mike Sheerin, FMS and
Sr. Palepa Ioane, SMSM.
p. 6
www.societyofmaryusa.org
A Marist Ministry:
Lourdes
Center
Celebrates
50 Years
Bishop Hennessey gives final blessing at Lourdes Center Mass.
By Paul Carr, Development Director
F
rom a three-story building in the heart of Boston’s
Kenmore Square, a small group of Marists have been
helping thousands of people across the country who
share one thing in common: a need for hope. The ministry,
known colloquially as The Lourdes Center, is the National
Lourdes Bureau of America. It was founded in Boston by
the Marist Fathers in 1950 at the request of Archbishop
Richard Cardinal Cushing of Boston, through arrangement
with the Bishop of Lourdes, France. On the Feast of Our
Lady of the Rosary, Monday, October 7, 2013, a group
gathered there to mark the occasion of its 50th anniversary
with a Mass and celebration dinner.
Through a unique multi-modal set of ministerial services, including the conveyance of the sacramental Lourdes Water, the
Marists at the Center provide ways for their constituents, most
who are infirm or shut-in, to connect with Lourdes from where
they are. The Center ships an average of 22,000 small bottles
of Lourdes Water each month.
They also publish a bi-monthly newsletter titled “Echoes of
Lourdes,” which features and discusses messages of hope left
by Our Lady of Lourdes. The newsletter, edited by the Center’s current director, Fr. Andrew Albert, S.M., is mailed freely
to more than 50,000 subscribers.
For 47 years, the Center has led a distinguished program of
pilgrimages to Lourdes. In 1966, special pilgrimages to Lourdes for children afflicted with chronic and progressive diseases
became part of the new foundation. Today, the Center’s annual pilgrimages serve an all-inclusive population.
At the celebration, more than 50 voices could be heard rejoicing in a capella hymns from the Chapel inside the Center.
Many assembled had been volunteers at the Center over the
years. Fifteen Marists concelebrating the 12:00 Mass, including Fr. Andrew Albert, S.M., the Center’s director, Marist
Provincial Fr. Ted Keating, S.M. and Bishop Robert Hennessey, Central Auxiliary Bishop, Archdiocese of Boston.
Most of those attending the 50th Anniversary Celebration
crossed Commonwealth Avenue after the Mass and shared a
meal in Kenmore Square.
Todayʼs Marists
Marist Provincial Fr. Keating, S.M. celebrates Lourdes Center Mass.
p. 7
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Today’s
MARISTS
Published by:
The Society of Mary US Province
Editors:
Jeanean Merkel/Sheila George
Illumicom
Editorial Board:
Ted Keating, S.M., Chair
Paul Carr
Tom Ellerman, S.M.
Paul Frechette, S.M.
John Harhager, S.M.
James Strasz, S.M.
THE MARIST BROTHER (FMS) MARTYRS
OF THE
SPANISH CIVIL WAR OF 1936
By Fr. Thomas Ellerman, S.M.
O
n October 13, 2013, 524 witnesses to the Faith and martyrs in 20th century Spain were beatified at Tarragona,
Spain. Among these were Brother Crisanto González
García, FMS and Brother Aquilino Baró Riera, FMS, their 64
Marist companions and 2 laymen. While different in many ways
- aged from 19 to 63, of diverse geographical and family origins and diverse qualities and abilities - these brothers had in
common a deep faith, which gave meaning to their lives and
also to their deaths.
Against the backdrop of the violent Spanish Civil War,
Brother Crisanto was in charge of 25 young men in formation
at Les Avellanes in far western Spain. He was killed while the
young men in his care succeeded in crossing the French border. According to eyewitnesses, Brother Crisanto went to his
martyrdom smiling and tranquil, saying goodbye to the persons nearest to him. Brother Aquilino was a formator of
novices in Les Avellanes. With 3 other sick brothers, he was
led to the front court of the house, where they were shot and
killed by militiamen.
Each of the brother martyrs has his own story; all 66 are part of
a glorious tradition of martyrdom. They are burning embers,
which keep alive the light of faith. These Marist martyrs paid a
high price for being faithful to their commitment. They encourage us to give our lives to and to be witnesses of the experience
of God and the gift of community.
Today, throughout the world, an urgent need is felt to renew
the Church by a return to the essence of the Gospel, the same
Gospel for which these martyrs gave their lives. Under the inspiration of Mary, our Marist Founders and their companions
burned with this same desire to renew the Church and the
world. As followers of these men and women, we, too, commit ourselves to personal and institutional renewal. Saint
Thomas More once said "tradition does not consist in keeping
the ashes, but in passing on the flame." May we brush aside
the ashes and revive the embers of that faith, which we received at Baptism. Blessed Marist Martyrs of Spain, pray that
we will humbly and discretely rebuild a Church with the
"Marian Face" of which we dream!