The 1985 Society of Mary’s Mision Statement calls Marists to see the Bugey and Oceania as the two key symbols of Marist life and practice.
Cerdon contains the history of Colin’s “six years of consolation” as he worked on the rule for the congregation, while the Bugey contains the story of the first missions which shaped the psirituality and mission of the congregation.
Peter Chanel, born in Cuet, is the first Marist to give his life’s bllok for the sake of his mission in the Pacific.
From the Mayet Memoirs
“Fr Colin said to me today at the end of 1845, “Ever since the Society was planned I have always had the trust, the assurance, that God would give me enough health to do what He required of me. Several times in my life I have been sick even to death; during my days at the major seminary, I could hardly drag myself round. But that trust never left me, never. At Cerdon, over a period of six years, I experienced and extreme sweetness when thinking of this Society, with a clear feeling that it was the work of God.”
“Our years on the missions were good times, and I miss them. When you have to put up with something, nature suffers a little, but that’s when you are happiest. Sometimes we were very cold all night long, and when the day dawned, we preched all the same. Then we spent the whole day in the confessional and in the pulpit, and as we came back, we often still had to make our soup or else do without. We gave a lot of missions like that. I have a very special desire that in the Society we should have some memories of our early beginnings, not for us to be talked about, but so that later on others may conform to our way of doing things, and imitating that simplicity which God has blessed.”
Prayer
We pray for the grace to develop the heart of a missionary, whether we are to stay “at home” or to be on mission “abroad”.