DISTRICT OF WEST AFRICA * MARIST VOCATION YEAR
November, 2004:
Topic: St. Marcellin’s dream –
Brothers close to children and young people, caring for them.
Ideas: The educational dimension of the Marist vocation.
Prayer Service 4
“We share and continue Marcellin’s dream
of transforming the lives and situations of young people”
(A vision for Marist Education Today, 30)
Introduction:
African is a young continent. We are blessed with many children and young people. They are our hope and our challenge. Some of them are growing steadily; some others are victims of wars and famine; they lack basic conditions of life; his rights are not respected… The compassionate heart of Father Champagnat is with us, inviting us to live out his dream in the concrete context in which we are.
Hymn
1. Peace is flowing like a river,
flowing out trough you and me,
spreading out into the desert,
setting all the captives free.
2. Love is flowing…
3. Joy is flowing…
4. Hope is flowing…
Praying with our Constitutions
(I suggest reading each text, and to pause some moments… Feel free to echo some words, to add a prayer or a refrain, after each text)
We remain ready to respond to the Holy Spirit, who challenges us by the hard facts of the lives of young people, and who urges us on to courageous actions (Const. 83)
We attract young hearts to Mary, Christ’s perfect disciple, making her known and loved as one who will lead us to Jesus. We entrust those in our care to her, and we invite them to pray often to this Good Mother and to make her their Model. (Const. 84)
The young people in our care are to receive a systematic and precise religious instruction. We initiate them into the sacramental life and we help them to find their place in the Church community (Const. 86)
In our schools, which provide a particularly favourable setting for Christian education, we give priority to a pastoral care that is adapted to the needs of young people. While ready to serve them all, we give special attention to pupils who are in difficulty (Const. 87).
We maintain our contact with young people by means of activities associated with the school (Const. 87)
We show our pupils that we are not only their teachers, but also their Brothers. By trying to establish in the school a spirit of friendliness and collaboration, we help young people to become responsible for their own formation (Const. 88)
Let us pray
Marcellin Champagnat,
our Father and Founder,
you lived with children and young people;
you loved them with passion,
you devoted all your energies for them.
Help us to share our time with them,
to resonate with their aspirations,
to be filled with compassion for them,
to reach our to them in all their difficulties.
Marcellin Champagnat,
our Father and Founder,
you thought of the least favoured of young people
and you founded our Marist Institute
especially for them.
Help us to give preference to them:
those who are excluded and marginalised,
those whose material poverty leads them
to be deprived in relation to health, family life,
schooling and education in values.
Marcellin Champagnat, our Father and Founder
Look upon us, bless our District,
as we try to make alive your dream
in our communities and our schools.
Give us your spirit of practical compassion.
Help us to see the face of Jesus
in those who are suffering
and lead us to take action to help them.
Amen
Praying with our Constitutions
(I suggest reading each text, and to pause some moments… Feel free to echo some words, to add a prayer or a refrain, after each text
Aware that each person is called to holiness, we help young people to develop the grace of their baptism by a more radical commitment for the sake of the Kingdom – as lay people, as consecrated persons, or as priests (Const. 93)
We call young people to discover our life of Brotherhood and apostolic action, and we invite them to commit themselves to this life (Const. 94)
We willingly undertake to be confidants and counsellors of young people who are searching for their vocation. We encourage them by inviting them to our communities and welcoming them in a warm brotherly spirit (Const. 94)
Our simple and fraternal communities are a call to live according to the spirit of the Beatitudes. The witness of our dedicated lives and our apostolic commitment reveal to everyone the meaning of human existence, and encourage those around us, particularly young people, to build a more just society (Const. 164)
In making present today the charism of Marcellin Champagnat, we keep alive the dynamism of our vocation. Our life becomes, for all those to whom we are sent, and especially for the young, an invitation to live the Gospel in the manner of Mary (Const. 171)
Praying with children in difficulty
We are invited to mention groups of children or situations that make their lives painful and unjust.. The answer could be:
R/ Give us, Lord, a compassionate heart
- Children reduced to slavery…
- Children who are confined and beaten…
- Children to whom is denied freedom…
- Children who do not go to school…
- Children who are orphans…
- Children forced to lard labour…
- Child soldiers…
- Children in refugee camps…
- Children of broken families…
- Children who are physically disabled…
- Children who are mentally retarded…
- Children sexually exploited…
- Street children…
- …. (you may continue)
Final hymn
How great is our God, how great is his Name!
How great is our God, forever the same!
1. He rolled back the waters of the mighty Red Sea
And he said: “I’ll never leave you.
Put your trust in me!
2. He sent his Son Jesus to set us all free.
And he said: “I’ll never leave you. Put your trust in me!
3. He gave us his Spirit and now we can see
And he said: “I’ll never leave you. Put your trust in me!
José María +++++