On the occasion of the beatification in Barcelona of our 109 martyred brothers, ​​our Intercultural Training Community of Colmenar Viejo made a stop on the way to go back and tread again the land that hosted the dream of Claret and his companions. In fact, staying in Vic for a while means putting our hearts back where history reminds us of who we are. We, 14 Claretian students of eight different nationalities, found in Vic the common ground from which our deepest desire also originates: to be missionaries wherever we are.

 

If the beatification placed us in the same tone of gratitude and emotion for our most recent history, immersing ourselves in the Mother House museum and beholding Claret’s crypt was to unite in a single point so different, so distant, so universal stories that we brought … from Vic to the world and from the world to Vic!

 

We thank our brother Josep Rovira for being the “weaver” who took each one of  our threads to link us with the beautiful loom that is the living history of our congregation, of Claret. His bag, his shoes, his books, his wounded biography … it all kept a message for each one of us and Josep knew how to show us where it was: thank you, brother, for the emotion of your words that weave memories and encourage us to be more Claretian!

 

We also want to show our gratitude to the Claretian communities of Vic and Montgat, ready and attentive to this time of special Claretian intensity. Thank you for making the Vic museum welcoming motto come true: “Recalling the past means committing to the future” [St. John Paul II].

Jorge Ruiz, cmf.