Emmanuel : God is with us

“The virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.” (Is 7, 14 and Mt 1; 23)

In this name “Emmanuel”, “God-with-us”, the vocation of the Community is entirely inscribed.

To bring salvation to men, Christ-Emmanuel came into the world, made himself near to us, and became incarnated.

For the members of the Community, “to be Emmanuel” in the image of Christ means to live in union with God in the world, to accept to lead a simple life in the spirit of poverty, to take Mary into one’s home and to participate in the mission of the Church.

A call

One enters the Emmanuel through different ways and from different horizons: one may have been a Christian since birth; another may be a convert or starting again. One may enter as a couple or as a family, as single or as a young person searching for his vocation. Some have been touched by praise, joy, liturgy, prayer, songs. Others have been touched by fraternal charity or missionary zeal.

To want to know more about the Emmanuel Community and to enter it is an important moment in the life of a person. This discovery comes through meeting and knowing the members of the Community in the region or country where you live: they help one another to see clearly in this journey the way in which to “walk”, maintaining a total respect for each person. It is for this that the Statutes of the Community allow a period of welcome and discernment of at least two years where one is able to verify, together with others, the authenticity of the calling.

A decision

To enter the Community is to commit oneself to it. It is a decision, a choice. Commitment in the Community comes at the end of this step of welcome and discernment. It is renewed each year. Pierre Goursat, one of the founders of the Community, wished that this commitment be renewable so that each person might stay free and decide, regularly, to reaffirm his or her choice.