I. Charism - La Salle.org

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IV. DISCOVERING, LIVING, SHARING THE GIFT OF GOD
Brothers. It is a look of Faith at the lived reality, a re-reading of the
signs God has sent them through events, what had died and what
is alive in their existence and that of their Brothers and their schools
also; a look which leads to a commitment, a new creation which is
situated in the field of Association.
It is a prophetic gesture which announces that a new reality is present,
a gesture which creates a new reality: the salvation of God is
moving, it is once again possible. This prophetic gesture is effective.
The words arise from the evangelic experience and its history: we
consecrate ourselves for… we make the vow of association for…
words which generate History.
The vow of 1691 is like the emerged part of the conversation which
John Baptist de La Salle is having with God; the visible part of what
is happening in his encounters with Him. The community presence
and the call to mission prevent this meeting from being transformed
into an intimate dialogue and shows that it is not a private dialogue.
This vow shows us that John Baptist de La Salle shared with his
Brothers his experience of God, so that the Mission of Salvation to
which he was committed, could be accomplished. It is that which
is the foundation of the Society of the Christian Schools.
5. I promise and vow to unite myself and live in
Society… to keep together and by association gratuitous
schools…
Between Pentecost and Trinity Sunday.
The Brothers were now present in Reims, Laon, Rethel, perhaps
Château-Porcien, and in Paris. There were at most 30 Brothers.
With the rest of the French population they had just gone through
the great famine of 1693-1694. The writings of the biographers of
John Baptist de La Salle show that they had put into practice one