The Tiberiade Fraternity brings together our brothers and sisters of the CANA Fraternity, with whom we have journeyed in recent years.
They have experienced the CANA journey – CANA Retreat and CANA Fraternal Life – and have often been asked to take responsibility for CANA fraternities. Over the past two years, we have experienced with them the joy of service and mission, notably through 1,2,3 CANA, where they have been able to carry the mission forward by leading sharing groups, taking on material responsibilities and so on. Last year, we heard about “CANA Autrement”. After discovering the program, the “CANA Moris” team adapted the formula, which was “tested” with these more experienced brothers and sisters. It was a great joy, just like the Fraternal Life week we had experienced with some of them a few months earlier.
Little by little, the question emerged: “How can we continue to take care of our experienced and older brothers and sisters at CANA?”. We came up with the idea of a kind of corps or team… in short, a fraternity! But a fraternity that needed special care, because it’s possible to have a word with these brothers and sisters that perhaps other “younger” couples aren’t yet ready to receive. This fraternity could also carry the mission with us, while opening up to a wider dimension, on the scale of the Chemin Neuf Communion and Community. For example, many of them took part in the Chemin Neuf Community fund-raising event on December 1.
It took us a while to name this new fraternity, as several names came to mind: Fraternité CANA Autrement (too long)? CANA davantage (complicated)? CANA “more” (ayo!!)? CANA “after”? In short, lots of giggles and questions from brothers and sisters asking us what else we’d come up with! And then, one of the core brothers, Norbert, asked with his excellent sense of humor: “after CANA, where did Jesus and his disciples go?”. On the Bible map, not far from CANA, on the lake, is Tiberias. So we unanimously concluded that Jesus and his disciples had certainly gone to Tiberias after the miracle at CANA. And then by the lake, the disciples witnessed the multiplication of the loaves, listened to the Sermon on the Mount, learned how to evangelize and took part in the mission. From a private event, they moved on to a public mission, so to speak.
So here we are with the “Tiberias Fraternity”! Thank goodness our brothers and sisters love and trust us! The start of the Tiberiade Fraternity enabled us to discover even more our desire to become missionary couples. This is something that spoke volumes to the Frat’ Tibériade. For the CANA back-to-school weekend, they were all present to put themselves at the service of children! It was a great blessing, because we so desperately needed servants for the little ones! This experience encourages us for future missions!
By opening up in this way to a dimension of service and mission for the whole community body, we hope that the Lord will continue to work on our hearts, so that each of us finds our own way after CANA. After all, CANA is like another “bubble” in our lives and journeys, which we must one day overcome in order to live more fully!
The future of the Tiberiade Fraternity certainly lies in the hands of the Lord, in whom we place our trust, so good is He!
