Quotes from Father Craig Larkin sm from the Boston Marist Laity Conference

Quotes from Father Craig Larkin sm from the Boston Marist Laity Conference Emmaus Story Luke 24: 13 - 35 and Reflections by Father Craig Larkin, sm

How have my eyes been opened?
How can I as a Marist recognise Jesus on my journey?
Imagine yourself as one of those disciples walking with Jesus along the road to Emmaus.
Go further and see yourself going to the House of Mary, to tell her what you have seen, to tell her what you have heard.
What would you say to her?
What would she say to me?

'One who sings prays twice'

'Christians are Easter people and Alleluia is our Song.' - St Augustine

The experience of the conference is like a wheel - we want to move forward. The hub, the centrepoint is the person of Jesus - we want to be disciples of Jesus and the person who can teach us best how to be a disciple is Mary.

Mary is like the glass on a hurricane lamp- the flame is Jesus. We look straight through the glass which protects the flame and if the glass is dirty we can't see the flame. Mary is like the glass protecting the light of Jesus and we see through her to Jesus. She is the perfect disciple who always points the way to Jesus. One girl in the class asked Father Craig: 'Is this why you are called Marists? - the first 3 letters Mar.. and the last 3 ..ist.Marists begin with Mary and end with Christ - Focus on Jesus, Mary will help us see through her to Jesus. To do that we need four spokes on the wheel

we need to pray
we need to be in communion with each other
we need to study
we need to offer service

The goal of the Conference - O/H - Focus of our days together:

To Grow as Members of Mary's Family:

Father Craig summed up the morning events - seeing the world through Father Colin's vision as good, redeemed, protected as explained by Andrea Pichlemeir. Father Thomas Dubay told us how we do that by entering into deep intimacy with God - to find God where we are - God enables us to be holy wherever we are. Psalm 118 'Open to me the gates of holiness' Craig encouraged us with this word on O/H:

Grow as Marists through Community

Meet new Marists make new friends

Enjoy fellowship with other members of Mary's family

Celebrate our charism (a tree with many branches)

Share wisdom with other Marists

Saturday April 17

Father Craig Larkin lead Morning Prayer 'Mary in the Church' and prepared us for the day by explaining the beautiful Icon of Mary in the Church. He said that there is a split in the Church every 500 years and like a family who has a split we walk away from each other and do not speak. Icons which come from a different tradition from our own are prayer in art - they tell us something. The Icons all around this room tell us something. Father Craig asked us to focus on the Jeon of Mary in the Church after the Ascension -

He explained the Icon to us: Jesus is in a secondary position, Mary is prominent, and the twelve apostles depicted are not historically/scripturally correct but are a faith expression of the Church that Jesus established. The book= 'Go and preach to all nations... ' the hand is out in blessing. It is depicted at the last judgement - the Church at the beginning and at the end of time will be like this. The Apostles - some active, some still, Mary at the centre (axis) looking out. Each Apostle expresses the role they play in the Church - 1) Peter - hierarchy, 2) John - Mystic, 3) Paul - active, 4) Marian Church.

The Church on Mission, in communion - 'I am with you till the end of time' gathered around Mary with the different gifts of the community. Mary respects the role of Peter, the apostles, gifts - her presence colours the Church. (Pope John Paul - Petrine Church and a Marian profile) The Marian element comes before the Petrine but Peter and Mary are in harmony.

Homily at final Mass

Craig began with a story about his naivety and shyness as a high school student who could not match the exploits of his mates. He was keen on one girl 'at a distance' that he saw at a school dance, finally plucked up courage to dance with her and that was it. But something had happened in him. He nervously sat beside her on a school bus, conscious of the electric energy that went through him when the bus swayed and 'by chance' their bodies touched. Overpowering and unforgettable, he wanted the whole world to know. So he carved his initials and her initials on a tree with an arrow through it so everyone would know about them. Nothing happened, as he never told her what he thought and she never told him what she thought about him, but somewhere in Wellington, NZ is a tree with the initials and somewhere in the world is woman, maybe a mother, grandmother, Mary Pool, who never knew what he felt.

There is a lesson in this - love must be told. The force of love comes when it is told and when it is told, a whole energy is released that is irresistible. Reflect on the Easter experience. How do you explain all those things that happened after the Resurrection to the followers of Jesus? This extraordinary conversion, this great surge of energy, this transformation of individuals. This didn't come about in them just because of something that happened to Jesus but because of something that happened within them. Like Thomas in the Gospel, they experienced the power of being forgiven, of being loved, accepted for who they are (while writing this I heard Celine Dion on the radio singing 'The Power of Love') The power of love- how else could you explain that extraordinary change? The foolishness of Mary Magdalene who wiped Jesus feet with her hair? The change in the woman at the well? Zaccheus? The man with the withered hand? How do you explain all this?

They all allowed themselves to be forgiven, to be loved. They believed God accepted them as they were and by contrast Judas couldn't believe that he could be forgiven and the Pharisees couldn't believe that Jesus could love them as they were. So they made many rules and even then they did not get it right. None of the figures in the Old Testament or New Testament got it right but they all experienced the power of love. They were the ones who accepted to be accepted by God.

There is no saint without a past and there is no sinner without a future - that is the power of love. We are Easter people and Alleluia is our song - finally we have accepted to let God love us and we want others to hear the song. A song is no good unless it's sung and the song that we here sing has a particular shade about it. The shade is called mercy!

The blue booklet on the Marist Laity puts it very well: 'The work of those who live the spirit of Mary is to bring the Gospel of love and mercy to the world. ' Opening lines of modern poem: 'The master came this way and grace was in his word, truth and love' he said, ' but his greatest word was mercy. '

Our privilege is to tell this mercy, to proclaim it, not by our words only, but especially by our lives. St Francis: 'Proclaim the Gospel at all times and if necessary use words. ' To be instruments of mercy-what a wonderful privilege- how uncomplicated it is and yet how difficult it is. 'Do not be afraid'

Mary of Egypt one of the great saints of the early Church was an infamous sinner of the 4th Century, a prostitute. She was insatiable and profligate in her search for love and she became one of the great mystics of the early church living for 40 years in the desert. In her early life she decided to join a group of pilgrims travelling from Alexandria to the Holy Land for the Exaltation of the Cross. Mary went on board the ship not to worship Christ but she knew she would be able to give them a good time and they would gladly pay her fare. When the ship arrived in the Holy Land, those who had enjoyed her company on board, now they would not speak to her, in the holy places they avoided her. They feared contact with her as something impure.

Each time she tried to enter the church she was pushed back by some unseen force at the threshold of the church. The others could go in but she with her immoral life could not. In the porch of this church there was a miraculous Icon and from ti..T.e to time tears flowed from the eyes of the Mother of God down on to the eyes of Jesus. Anyone who felt an outcast would wait there and bathe their face in the tears. Mary of Egypt stood under this icon, the tears touched her face and at once she felt a warm glow, she crossed the threshold and walked into the church where the people made a place for her.

Who knows the pity and sorrow of God and the Mother of God? She willingly comes to us in the dark, even into the hell with us weak sinners. This story makes me think of where we Marists belong in the church. Perhaps our place is at the threshold, the entrance, outside the walls of the church perhaps? There are so many people, many of them in our own families, who are not ready or who can't find it in themselves to enter the church or feel that the church has rejected them. They stand at the threshold unable to enter into the Church. They are not yet ready to hear Jesus speak his truth nor even to hear Jesus speakhis love. They are waiting to experience his mercy and we are there like the miraculous Icon. Truth he said and Love he said but his greatest word was Mercy.

Grand Finale Breakfast Sunday 18 April:

This has been a very significant conference here for English speakers in North America. Conferences for Lay Marists are also being held in France and England this year. Mary Jane Kenny said a very significant thing yesterday: 'The Marist lay movement is like a sleeping giant just waking up.' Mary Jane also referred to the General Chapters of the Branches of the Marist family in 2001 -4 Chapters going on at one time in one place - each one separately came to the conclusion that the Marist Laity were missing.

It is significant that at this Conference the Mother General of the Marist Sisters is here, and that representatives from the Generalates of the Fathers, Brothers and SMSM are here, as we want to be around when the sleeping giant flexes its muscles. The original idea was that this Marist Project would be a single organisation with many parts under one Superior General over the whole she-bang! Rome thought this 'a monster'. So each branch under its charismatic leader developed in its own independent way - characteristics which are reflections of the person of the founder of each branch.

Just as family members look alike, or behave alike, there is something that is common to us all. Gaston Lassard sm in his paper: 'A Spirituality in Four Voices' in which he explored the fundamental Marist thing as played by four different voices but the same tune - a common tune. The family likeness remains in the descendants.

Last year my mother died. I thought my brothers and sister were so unalike that everyone would have thought that we were adopted. But at the funeral I was surprised how many people came to us and said that the family likeness was just amazing - the smile, the jaw, the nose Each of us had gone our own way but as we talked over old times none of uswould have said lets go back and live as we did as children. Each one had their own family, their own way of life and yet the family likeness was there in the children and grandchildren. Life would go on and the family values would continue.

The Marist thing is bigger than any one branch and when all the branches get together then we see the power of the Marist thing. That's why I want to encourage this sleeping giant for we in the other branches we need you. We Marist Fathers have had three significant meetings over the last year-we have family problems - we needed to do this to work things out - at the educational meeting representatives came including Lay people who added so much to our meeting. As we know each other so well we can be bored when a confrere gets up to give a speech and think here we go again. But the Lay people say 'wow did you hear that?' which really makes us think.

This weekend I have seen this happen too. I have been liberated as our brothers and sisters from the Lay branch see things from a different angle. The wonderful things we have heard from our speakers really make us think, the wonderful things happening in other places: Australia's organisation, the wonderful banner from Glenis Collins in NZ- the banner went through NZ from the top to the bottom to every church named St Mary's -there were 29

Catholic Churches and 40 Episcopalian Church who welcomed and contributed to the Banner - an ecumenical pilgrimage done by Our Lady herself from one end of the country of New Zealand to the other - Mary Ann Atkins' Formation Booklet, Barney and Anne Sheridan's workshop, Brother Leo, and all the other wonderful people who shared their spirit with us.

I hear Marists now talking of the Marist thing in different languages not in the Church speak that we are used to. That is great! We see the Marist thing being released. Each branch of the Marist family reflects some aspect of the Spirit of Mary and when we meet and share that experience the Spirit is seen in all its power and simplicity.

I offer the following points to take away with you:

Don't underestimate the power of Mary working in those she calls. We have input but don't underestimate the fact the Mary is already at work in the person or group.
The Marist way is a way of living the Gospel of Jesus. Mary is the first disciple and we get our identity from finding out how she lived the Gospel. Frank McKay: 'The whole purpose of this group is to discover the gospel of Jesus, to share our faith in the Gospel together and to live it as Mary lived it. '
Network, network, network- we don't have to think of a big organisation - we are like a bridge and we are a net - relationships are so important - keep it simple, stay on the ground, do something small, stay in touch. Relationships ensure a good organisation but organisations don't ensure relationships!
Ask for resources - don't keep books in a cabinet- get them from other Marists - share them.
Invite others to join - person to person - better than any advertisement
Just DO IT!

Gather up the Fragments

Light the candles for our final prayer - Books and things that were a significant part of our Conference will be placed on the table 'gathering up the fragments' after listening to the Gospel Story) Reading from John 6: I - 14 Feeding of the Five Thousand

Go now and 'do whatever he tells you'

Each one wrote on an envelope their name and address and gave it to a delegate that they wished to contact again.

For more information click here......