Happy Fathers Day

Happy Father’s Day to all the amazing Dads out there! I gratefully remember my own Dad today who is still watching over me from above.  He gave me an abundance of lasting gifts in my life that still resonate and live on in my daily life. His quiet example of living a faith-filled life and helping many along his journey didn’t go unnoticed or not remembered. 

There are very few more important roles one can have in life than the opportunity to be Dad. I am incredibly blessed to have watched so many of my cousins and close friends grow into the role of being amazing Dads. They tirelessly and selflessly make sacrifices everyday for their families with unconditional love. This year, our Church celebrates the Year of St. Joseph, the patron Saint of all Fathers. Saint Joseph was the foster father of Jesus, husband of Mary and head of the Holy Family. He experienced many of the same difficulties in life that most fathers do, yet he lived an exemplary life and established an ideal that is well-worth emulating. Saint Joseph was a man of compassion and caring. He was a man possessed with an unwavering faith in God. He was a man who loved and protected his family. He was an incredibly “righteous man” and did all he could to allow his son to become all that God was calling him to do. May all Dads continue to embrace the Ideal of Fatherhood and know how sacred and important their role is in the lives of their family.

May today be a joyful day for all families who are graced to have a true St. Joseph in their lives!

Feast Day of St. Marcellin Champagnat

Today is the Feast Day of St. Marcellin Champagnat. One hundred and eighty-one years ago on this day, he died at the age of fifty-nine. As a young priest, serving in the small rural French hamlet of Lavalla, he quickly came to realize that the poor country children of his surrounding area had no hope of a future as there were no schools. More alarming to him was his concern that many of those young people lacked a basic understanding of our faith. With no money and two young recruits, he began the Marist Brothers on January 2, 1817. His dream of educating young people to become “good Christians and good Citizens” quickly grew. Today that dream continues to inspire many young people in eight-two countries around our world. 

As we celebrate his Feast Day today in our USA Province, we are blessed to be able to welcome forty-one Lay Marists who will formally commit to being a Marist of Champagnat. Each of these Lay Marists recently completed a six-month Formation Program within our Province. We are further blessed to be soon welcoming our two current postulants into our USA Novitiate in September as they continue their formation to becoming Marist Brothers.

From the earliest days of our founding, St Marcellin entrusted the needs of all our Brothers, Lay Marists, young people and our many schools and programs to Mary, our Good Mother. He knew that under her protection, all our unspoken prayers and needs would be met. On this his Feast Day, let us continue to entrust all the needs of our Marist world to the sacred heart of Mary. May she continue to watch over our Marist world and all of us that are graced to be part of it.