I. Charism - La Salle.org

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MAKING THE LASALLIAN CHARISM LIVE TODAY
The history of this charism down through the years - how John Baptist
de La Salle and the Brothers with him and after him understood
“Lasallian charism” - has led us to the conclusion that the charism was in
“association for keeping gratuitous schools”; today, taking into account
the changes in society which have come about down through history, we
say it is in “association for the educational service of the poor”. But the
aim remains essentially the same 161 : it consists of a specific type of education,
of school, of education centre; aimed at a specific and easily recognised
public: “the children of artisans and the poor” of Monsieur de La
Salle’s day and to day the young and especially the poorest. It is also an
education project which takes into account the uniqueness of those for
whom it is destined. Beyond structures, which are always incidental, there
are persons: educators, the young, children, parents, past-pupils, etc., who
come into contact with each other and who work to create a new world,
to bring about “salvation”, in circumstances which, at first sight, seem
very far removed from those which saw the birth of the Institute of the
Brothers of the Christian Schools.
The Meditations for the Time of Retreat - a founding
story.
It is also “a story of the charism”, become an inspiration for Lasallians, which
took on the appearance of a founding story: the Meditations for the Retreat.
This story of our origins is the same as the one that could be told by every
authentic Lasallian when he re-reads the reality of his vocation as educator
and of his itinerary with the young. The fact that these Meditations, when
they were printed for the first time by Brother Timothée, were proposed for
the use of all persons who are employed in the education of the young. 162 is
not without its importance for our present reflection.
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One can have the impression, it is true, of a dilution of the strength contained in the expression
“to keep gratuitous schools” when one changes it to “educational service of the poor” since the word
“school” has a ‘concrete’ face which is missing from the expression “educational service”.
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Title page of the first printed edition: Meditations for the Time of Retreat, for the use of all persons
employed in the education of youth & especially for the retreat made by the Brothers of the Christian Schools
during the holidays. By M. JEAN BAPTISTE DE LA SALLE, Doctor of Theology, Founder of the Brothers
of the Christian Schools.