Allow us to become active members of the Marianist Family, working to know Your love better.

May we always remember that we are part of a larger family. That we are he, she, me, and you. Being open and aware of our surroundings, we pray that we find strength in faith and in each other. We pray that we may become comfortable being emotionally and spiritually naked and that we are able to realize our gifts as a community and as individuals.

Help us to open our hearts and minds to all humans the way Ad�le opened her own house and kitchen to the poor. May we be a people of strength, justice, and love shaped in Mary's spirit.

Creator God, bring forth in us a spirit of life-giving love and compassion. Help our actions truly reflect our intentions.

We pray for health and wisdom that we may be ready to use our gifts to better serve the world.

Let us realize our strength as a community and always share our gifts with the world. May we continually grow as a community of hope, love, and acceptance so that we may share with the rest of the world the message written on our souls by our Creator.

May our hearts in community praise You and follow Your call.

In the name of our Brother, Jesus we pray,

• Hawaii: June 15-16, 2007, Marianist House at Ewa Beach (Oahu)
• California: June 22- 23, 2007, Presentation Center in Los Gatos, CA
• Ohio: July 20-22, 2007, University of Dayton in Dayton, OH 
• Texas: July 27-29, 2007, St. Mary's University in San Antonio, TX

The deadline for registration is extended until June 8, 2007.
For more information and registration forms, please visit www.marianist.com/youngadults.

MSJC News 

• "The Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America" is a new effort by Catholic Charities USA with a goal of reducing poverty by half by 2020.  The Marianist Social Justice Collaborative has endorsed the campaign, but hopes that other communities and individuals within the Marianist Family will also get involved.  For more information or to endorse the campaign yourself, visit www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/poverty.

• People's Peace Initiative Booklets Available FREE: Use this 3-session reflection booklet, prepared by Pax Christi and written in both English and Spanish, and be part of a nationwide effort to discuss the challenges of promoting peace today in light of the Gospel.  For more information or to get copies of the booklet, contact Andrea Stiles at apsjustice@hotmail.com or 859-291-6197.  Click here to visit the Pax Christi website for background information.

By Jessica Gonz�lez

"I, the Lord, am doing something new, which has already begun. Don't you see it" (Isaiah 43:19).

This quote sums up the collection of feelings, thoughts, and memories that fill my mind as I try to explain to friends or colleagues what my plans are for life after UD.

I have been a University of Dayton employee for almost nine years; adding four years as an undergrad, it makes a total of fifteen years of my life living in Ohio, not counting two of them world-trekking with Up With People. But I will leave that for another time.

My life in San Juan, Puerto Rico, was fun, loving, and tough. It was hard (okay, not too hard) for me to leave home at 17 and make my way to Dayton for college. Dad gave me his blessing and knew, of course, that he had too many friends still living and working on campus that could keep an eye on me. I will never forget the time I got caught smoking by Father. . . . You thought I would say the name. No, the names will be changed to protect the innocent, or is it the guilty?

In a nutshell, I had four great years, earned my degree, and after two years attempting to make the world a better place by singing, dancing, and doing community service in ten different countries (that's that two-year hiatus I mentioned at the beginning), I decided to come home. . . . Home was Dayton. Home was UD.

The UD Family, the Marianist Family, welcomed me back as if I was one of their own. I knew I was different, spoke a different language, brought with me different experiences and perspectives, but still, here I was. I came home and it felt right.

Working in the office of admission at UD gave me the chance to grow and learn about higher education, especially Catholic higher education, and the world of college admission. But what has been the most significant learning experience was the opportunity to be fully immersed in Marianist history, education, spirituality, and formation. What a gift we have--to work for Marianist education, to work in an institution where we believe we can educate students to not only become excellent scholars, engineers, teachers, politicians, and business professionals, but also for them to be responsible to their community, wherever it may be, while embracing their vocations. To use their skills and abilities to make the world a better place.

I have learned that leadership takes education. A wise Marianist brother once told a group of students who were protesting UD's new focus on academic excellence that you can't have good leadership without a good education. He said that we can't make a difference in this world if we don't know what we are talking about, and THAT takes education. It made me take education, not just my own, but all education, more seriously.

It has been exciting to challenge the high school seniors with questions on how they see themselves in five years, what kind of job they will like to have, and to quote a great colleague and friend, "what do they love?" It is with questions like these that we can take students to a deeper, more reflective place.

As I reflect on my years at UD I also have to stress that being Marianist became clearer and more intentional when I became a Marianist Educational Associate (MEA). As the description of the program explains, this is not a privilege or honor. It is an invitation to study, learn, and reflect on the history and tradition that is Marianist education at our universities and to look to the future of the institutions knowing that lay leadership is the key to preserving the old while embracing the new.

As a Marianist Educational Associate, I feel like I have been given the keys that open the door to a special place. This "place" is Marianist education, and it welcomes all who wish to enter. We MEAs are given the keys by our parents, or vowed religious in this case, who have been guarding the traditions as long as we can remember. They, our role models, our teachers, our spiritual directors, or mentors are teaching us about Chaminade, Ad�le and Marie Th�r�se, our Founders. This is where we came from in the Marianist world  . . . from Bordeaux and Zaragoza, to the US, Puerto Rico, and Mexico . . . to India, Africa, Korea, and beyond. It is also our responsibility to be cautious, yet knowledgeable, and not take the keys and lock them in a safety box. We should take these keys and make duplicates. Share the keys to Marianist education with everyone who wants to learn, lead, and serve.

That is what I have learned as a Marianist Educational Associate and what I take with me at the end of my fifteen-year tenure in Dayton, Ohio.  But where do I take all this? How many duplicates of the keys must I make? The number does not matter. What I do with them does.

This spring I renewed my public vow as a MEA, and even though I am leaving the University of Dayton campus, I will continue to work for Marianist education from home. Home IS home and it is in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Another friend and colleague said to me today, "The journey took me to this place." The journey he was talking about was his Marianist journey. The prayers, reflections, and conversations he has had with so many who also "speak" Marianist. The classes, the readings we have all done: that is part of the journey. It all takes us to a different place than we were when we began the journey. I see that now, and I am grateful.