When we celebrate a birthday, we not only remember the day when someone was born. We celebrate because the person is still important to us now. We celebrate Blessed Chaminade's birthday because his life and vision still inspire people all over the world today to work on the transformation of the world. Chaminade wanted to create faith communities that made the Gospel alive in every age. He wanted people not only to preach the kingdom of God--a kingdom of justice, love, and peace--but to live the Gospel message so that it could be visible to people of every age. Chaminade's vision of faith community still inspires us to be a faith community which shows that still today the gospel can be lived in all the force of its letter and spirit.
