I. Charism - La Salle.org

MAKING THE LASALLIAN CHARISM LIVE TODAY 245
multi-cultural or multi-religious contexts in which we live today.
For him the only acceptable religion, for the teachers as well as for
the pupils, was the Catholic religion.
It is an essential fidelity that the Founder teaches us, a fidelity
which transcends space and time: it is fidelity to the Spirit. It is this
Spirit which has led the Institute of the Brothers, in the course of
its history, to be present in regions totally unknown to Monsieur de
La Salle; it is the same Spirit which has led the Institute to adapt to
new social, political, religious elements… arising from the evolution
of peoples and the changes of history. Fidelity to the Spirit is,
in the case of John Baptist de La Salle, coupled with another
fidelity: fidelity to the young people confided to us, such as they
are. This implies respect for their convictions, attention to all their
needs and recognition of the presence of God in them and in their
destiny. Meditation 37, in particular the 3 rd point, is very revealing
in regard to this attitude. 183 This is an essential element of the
Lasallian vision of man and especially of children and young people,
a vision outside of which it is not possible to claim to be
authentically Lasallian.
This fidelity to the Spirit and to the young, leads me to say that to
live the Lasallian charism today it is not necessary to be a Christian
or a believer or to belong to one of the religions named by
Transcendence; but it is necessary to be at least convinced that one
183
Meditations for Sundays and Feasts. You should look upon the children whom you are charged to
teach as poor, abandoned orphans. In fact, though the majority of them do have a father here on earth,
they are still as if they had none and are abandoned to themselves for the salvation of their souls. This
is the reasons God places them as if under your guardianship. He looks on them with compassion as
being their protector, their support and their father and it is to you that he entrusts this care.
This God of goodness places them in your hands and undertakes to give them everything you ask of
Him for them: piety, self-control, reserve, purity, the avoidance of companions who could be dangerous
to them. And because God knows that of yourself you have neither enough virtue nor enough
ability to give all these things to the children He has entrusted to you, he wants you to ask Him for
these blessings for them frequently, fervently and insistently. In this way, thanks to your care, nothing
will be lacking to them that they need for their salvation. (Meditation 37. 3 rd point).