I. Charism - La Salle.org

MAKING THE LASALLIAN CHARISM LIVE TODAY 241
will be a great cause of consolation to you when you call to mind the
results of their faith and of your instruction, knowing that this makes
them dear to God and places them in the number of his elect… as will be
clearly apparent in the virtuous lives they continue to live… religion
and piety are increased among the faithful, especially among the working
class and the poor… 167
…A great number of his students in possession of eternal happiness,
for which they are indebted to him by the grace of Jesus Christ! 168
In re-reading these texts written by Monsieur de La Salle, one is
struck by the strength of how he was affected by this discovery of
the reality of the world of the poor, in his soul, his heart, all his
being… how much he was touched in the depths of his being by
the despair which filled this world and enclosed it, almost in an
institutional manner, in failure, while dehumanising it.
This, it seems to me, is another of the characteristics of the
Lasallian charism lived by the men and women of today. Making
the education system function, even in a very conscientious way, is
not sufficient to make one a Lasallian. Like John Baptist de la Salle
and the first Brothers, we need to be “seized” in one way or another,
by the needs of the children, the young, the poor of our time
and of our people and to have found there the fundamental reasons
for our commitment to changing this reality.
In order to lead them to God. 169
The Meditations for the Time of Retreat begin and end with the
name of God. This God, qualified as good, is the first word of the
two pairs of Meditations which frame this narrative: “God is so
167
MTR 207,3.
168
MTR 208,2.
169
For all this development see the book by Lucien LEGRAND: Le Dieu qui vient. La Mission dans la
Bible. Paris, Desclée, 1988.