I. Charism - La Salle.org

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236 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. 161 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”. 162 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.
MAKING THE LASALLIAN CHARISM LIVE TODAY 237 One can read the Meditations for the Time of Retreat in different ways: as a reflection of the spiritual experience of John Baptist de La Salle, or as the spirituality of an educator, or yet again as a commentary on the formula of vows from the time of our beginnings. We can equally read them as the story of an exodus: that of the children who are liberating themselves in order to reach salvation, while being guided by prophetic men and women… so many fruitful and inspiring ways of reading them. The reading which I propose here is rooted in the understanding of the Meditations for the Retreat as a “story of salvation”, a story which we are continuing to write, a story in which the Lasallian charism is at work. John Baptist de La Salle lives this story starting out from his spiritual, ecclesial, social world… the fruitfulness of his undertaking is that this world is anchored in a spirituality of the Incarnation and a biblical spirituality as well as in his faith: faith in God who wishes all people to be saved, faith in the teachers who are capable of being “the ministers and the ambassadors of God” for the young people who have been confided to them, faith in the young person who “however little intelligence he has, knowing how to read and write… is capable of (achieving) everything” 163 A history of salvation. The Meditations for the Time of Retreat start out from the recognition of the God who speaks in the situation of the poor. It is there that He shows Himself and it is from there also that he makes His call. This can be seen in Meditations 193 and 194. They highlight faith (or the spirit of faith), an attitude which consists in knowing how to discover God present in the exercise of the profession, in meetings with the young, with parents, with colleagues. In the opposite direction the profession can be understood as the place where God speaks and calls, and also as the place where one responds to his call. The Meditations end with the presentation of the accomplish- 163 The Conduct of the Christian Schools: Part two, 6, art. 3, p. 161. (Oeuvres Complètes: CE 16,2,21).
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LASALLIAN STUDIES Nº 13 The Intern
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of contents
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INTRODUCTION 5 Introduction The Int
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I. CHARISM - ITS SEMANTIC FIELD 7 I
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I. CHARISM - ITS SEMANTIC FIELD 9
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II. CHARISM IN THE BIBLE 11 II. Cha
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II. CHARISM IN THE BIBLE 13 charism
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II. CHARISM IN THE BIBLE 15 So he i
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II. CHARISM IN THE BIBLE 17 iours o
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II. CHARISM IN THE BIBLE 19 The cha
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II. CHARISM IN THE BIBLE 21 Other a
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II. CHARISM IN THE BIBLE 23 7. Char
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II. CHARISM IN THE BIBLE 25 1. Blin
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II. CHARISM IN THE BIBLE 27 4. To b
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II. CHARISM IN THE BIBLE 29 (cf. 1
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III. CHARISM IN THE CHURCH 31 III.
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III. CHARISM IN THE CHURCH 33 The w
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III. CHARISM IN THE CHURCH 35 The C
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III. CHARISM IN THE CHURCH 37 ards
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III. CHARISM IN THE CHURCH 39 The c
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III. CHARISM IN THE CHURCH 41 Relig
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III. CHARISM IN THE CHURCH 43 Wheth
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III. CHARISM IN THE CHURCH 45 [The
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III. CHARISM IN THE CHURCH 47 form
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IV. DISCOVERING, LIVING, SHARING TH
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V. CHARISM IN THE RECENT INSTITUTE
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V. CHARISM IN THE RECENT INSTITUTE
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Page 195 and 196: VI. EIGHT TESTIMONIES FROM LASALLIA
Page 233 and 234: MAKING THE LASALLIAN CHARISM LIVE T
Page 235: MAKING THE LASALLIAN CHARISM LIVE T
Page 265 and 266: BIBLIOGRAPHY 265 Bibliography ABERB
Page 267 and 268: LISTS OF PUBLICATIONS 267 Lists of
Page 269 and 270: LISTS OF PUBLICATIONS 269 Cahiers L
Page 271 and 272: LISTS OF PUBLICATIONS 271 14 - LA S
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