Pentecost

Marcel Caron
President

During Pentecost in the Upper Room, the apostles and their companions were surprised by the wind of the Spirit that came to awaken them from their slumber, blow away their fears and renew their inner fire. This wind of the Spirit has also been sent upon us… and I hope that the fruits will be just as abundant so as to advance on the roads of the mission.

The Church counts on us, members of Secular Institutes, to be on the first lines of New Evangelization. Be it at work or in the family, in social works or in pastoral activities, day and night we are “on a mission”, ready to give account of the hope that lives in our heart! May the Spirit give us the grace to go all the way so that Jesus be better known, loved and served!  

Our vocation can resemble in a certain way this latest toy: the fidget spinner that attracts so many young people and children today. And why would it not become a tool to evangelize? We could easily use it next Sunday on the feast of the Holy Trinity to show how the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one, united to work together, and show how one counts on the other to maintain balance in love. We could explain how faith, hope and charity are intimately joined together to transform the world. So many options are available to us…

But this toy could also be a tool to explain our secular consecrated vocation. For it to work, we have to hold it in the centre and make it turn. Isn’t that what happened to us when Jesus to hold of us? He gave direction to our life and allows us to go forward with the force of his love. And the three equal parts are the image of the three aspects of our vocation in a secular institute: consecration, secularity and apostolate (or mission)! If we take away one of these aspects, it’s impossible to advance on the journey to say “yes” to Christ..