I am writing about a very important and particularly topical theme for us MLCs around the world: formation.

This aspect of our life in MLCs is not new. For a very long time now, formation has been the concern of MLC leaders at all levels. All over the world, initiatives have emerged and this is to be welcomed.

For example, North America has decided to implement a year of discernment for MLCs. The pandemic does not allow face-to-face meetings, but North American leaders have adapted and have made this proposal remotely via Zoom. And what a success! This initiative fits well in the field of training because it allows everyone to re-read their history in order to better move forward and meet the challenges of the future. The international organization admires and approves this courageous initiative!

It is also worth mentioning the creation of training centers all over the world, notably in Canada, France (La Madeleine), Spain (La casa de María) and probably in Latin America, Korea, India, Japan and many African countries. These initiatives are very often a work of collaboration, of common and shared mission of the Marianist Family, each branch bringing what is specific to it in terms of skills and way of being.

Why Formation? Formation is the life and growth of the Marianist Family and the MLC. It is advancing each one and together towards a human and spiritual growth to become the Marianist we wish to be. It is to be better missionaries. It is to remain faithful to the spirituality of Father Chaminade and Mother Adele and to accept and to grow in this identity of the Marianist lay person. It is also to better understand and fully live one's vocation within the Family.

The 7th International Meeting which took place in Seoul, Korea in August 2018 voted in assembly some challenges for the next four years. The theme of formation naturally emerged as a challenge to be taken up. Why, if we already see that we are on the way? Probably to challenge us to go further...

So I wish each one of you a wonderful year 2021! May it give you the true joy of being, knowing and serving in the Marianist Family.

I am announcing my first circular: "Transformed and Transforming - Formation in Marianist Lay Communities". The Holy Spirit has led me to certain reflections and intuitions that I humbly share with you in this circular.

It is not a manual of know-how, nor is it a list of advice. All the concrete initiatives on this subject show that no country has advice to receive, because they are infinitely rich and creative. The circular that you will soon have in your hands reminds us of the importance of the Word of God, of the community, of Mary, of the Family as privileged places of formation. It represents all the richness of our charism and the conception of the formation of our Founders.

It proposes an option for life in the Marianist Family that is constantly renewed through initial and ongoing formation, spiritual accompaniment and care of the interior life. It proposes that together we move forward stronger, more conscious about our mission. For, what good is it for us to be better Marianists if we do not go towards our fields of mission more committed, more in solidarity, more concerned about transforming the world by introducing the light of the Gospel?

Click here for the full EN text of Circular No.1, February, 2021.

Click here for the full FR text of Circular No. 1, February, 2021.

Click here for the full SP text of Circular No. 1, February, 2021.

Each year, our Marianist Family is called to remember and celebrate with joy our vocation in the Church. We base our living response in the “YES” of Mary at the time of the Annunciation. Mary shows us at that moment that her yes is definitive, not because it is said once and for all, but because it comes from the depths of her being and that it engages her completely. This yes is the affirmation of absolute confidence in what is presented and in what will happen, including the unknown and therefore the uncertainty.

Mary's definitive yes is this yes which will never call into question her presence and her action at each moment of Jesus' life, from childbirth until the cross, passing through all the stages of the public life of her Son. This yes will lead her into the adventure of the Cenacle to calm the troubled hearts of the Apostles when Jesus leaves an apparent void. Mary’s yes will fulfill their expectations, their desire, their hope, because it has the strength of a tested yes, strengthened and consolidated by its unfailing fidelity. It allows the confident expectation of another presence and is the glue of the first Church.

That "yes" of Mary can be ours. It is a yes to Jesus, to his life in us and in the world. It is the yes to life stronger than death. It is the yes to the Resurrection. It is the yes to our salvation.

In this period of pandemic, each of us has had to say “forced” yeses, imposed to preserve our own health and that of our brothers and sisters. We each had to suddenly agree to limits on our individual and collective freedoms. But our slow acceptances were rooted in a first and solid yes: the YES of Mary. It helps us to consent to rapidly changing events by maintaining an attitude firmly attached to trust and surrender. Her yes, which is then also ours, sometimes makes the unacceptable acceptable and the impossible possible.

In the Marianist Family, the YES of Mary is most certainly ours. This is what the Blesseds William - Joseph Chaminade and Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon wanted for each of us.

What if this Patronal Feast of the year 2021 gave us the opportunity to measure how we live the “yes” of Mary in our life during these months of the health crisis?

To read more of this reflection click your preferred translation:

English French

Amen.

Gifts and Tasks is published on the 4th Friday of each month. We need local and national news, stories, reflections, and photos. Please send submissions and ideas for next month's issue to Marceta Reilly by the previous Sunday.

Kindly forward this issue to contact persons within your country to help with its distribution. Click here to subscribe to Gifts & Tasks.