During this Easter season, the Bética Communities have had the opportunity to pray and celebrate together, in two stages, from a distance and in unity.
This year, the Green Sprouts initiative came in the form of a box and a QR code (with instructions) sent by postal mail to each responsible person of each Community in our region. Inside, there was a candle and a prayer for each layperson.
In the first stage, on Easter Sunday and around April 24th, we prayed individually:
AND NOW, WITH THE LIGHT OF YOUR LIT CANDLE, RE-LIVE the day or moment when you discovered your Claretian missionary vocation, RE-ENCOUNTER Claret who leads you to the Lord; RE-FALL IN LOVE with his passion; RE MEMBER what you felt; RE POSITION your life and mission; RE NEW your commitment and your community life; RE-PLENISH your community failures; RE-LAUNCH your strengths; RE-CREATE your happiest moments in community; RE-SOLVE your doubts; RE-SIST apathy…. RE-SURRECT…
In a second moment, around May 24th, for Pentecost, a second proposal was sent, and we gathered as Communities to pray TOGETHER.
The Lord sends us His Spirit, and we revive this paragraph from our Charter:
Through the Claretian charism, which qualifies our entire being, the Holy Spirit empowers and destines us to a special service in the Church. Identified by this gift with Christ the Missionary, we continue, as laypeople, the mission that the HOLY SPIRIT awakened in the Church through St. Anthony Mary Claret. The Lord has called us to be evangelizers, to proclaim and extend the kingdom of God among people through the word in all its forms, testimony, and transformative action in the world, thus bringing the Good News to all environments of humanity to transform it from within.
May it be so for all those who share vocation and mission. A warm embrace in the Heart of Mary from the Lay Claretians of Bética.
