lasallian spirituality - amazon s3s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/wh1.thewebconsole... · a...
TRANSCRIPT
Shane Dwyer: Lasallian Facilitators’ Gathering
7 – 8 March 2016
LASALLIAN SPIRITUALITY
The “Conduct of the Christian Schools”: its context and
the ongoing relevance of some of its elements…
To understand anything it can be very useful to understand
at least a little of where it comes from. What follows are
some resources to facilitate a conversation on the origins of
Lasallian spirituality, with a view to providing an
opportunity to discuss the ongoing relevance of some of its
elements for our own lives and work.
1
“The church of today needs (the writings of John Baptist de la Salle) as
much as that of seventeenth-century France…for it is a rich and time-
tested proposal for how educators can put their faith to work through their
vocation – as a spirituality for life.” [Groome, p. 1]
“Since the risen Christ gave ‘the great commission’ to the first Christian
community on the hillside in Galilee (Matthew 28:16 – 20), the church has
recognized that education is an integral aspect of continuing God’s work
of salvation in the world.
Catholics have always been convinced that we “should
educate in the humanities, arts and sciences, as well as
in the Christian faith itself. To echo St Irenaeus,
anything that enables the human person to become ‘fully
alive’ – the intent of good education, surely – ‘gives glory
to God’.” [Groome, p. 1]
A Spirituality for Today
The Glory of God is the
human being Fully
Alive (St Irenaeus)
St Irenaeus of Lyons
(AD 130 – 200)
2
“The church has educated people…since the earliest
monastic schools. Yet, De La Salle was the first to set out
a comprehensive spirituality for teachers, crafted
precisely to ground and guide the work of education…He
proposed that Christian educators be motivated by their
faith and allow it to permeate every aspect of their
teaching, entrusting the outcome to God’s provident care.” [Groome, pp. 1 – 2]
“For De La Salle, educators so grounded in
Christian faith must have a deep
commitment to the personhood of learners
in order to respect and nurture their dignity
and responsibility as made in God’s own image and likeness. Most
urgently, Christian teachers must favor the people whose human dignity
is most denied by society, making what we call today an ‘option for the
poor’.” [Groome, p. 2]
“For De La Salle,
the key to such
humanizing
education is that
teachers have a
life-giving relationship with their
students. And, as if coming full circle, the
quality of this relationship depends most upon the spirituality of
educators themselves. In other words, the touchstone of life-giving
education is the teacher’s spirituality – that they put their faith to work
in what they do. And as teachers allow their faith to ground their
educating, not only are they instruments of God’s grace for the salvation
of students, but they grow in their own holiness of life.” [Groome, p. 2]
A challenge
to
educators
In the image and
likeness of God
Your spiritual
journey is
important
3
“All educators will find an invaluable
resource (in the writings of De La Salle). It will
stimulate our imaginations about how to care
for our own spirituality and then to put it to
work through our vocation. This will surely
enhance our potential to be instruments of God’s saving work and likewise
our own holiness of life.” [Groome, p. 3]
“As with all classics, De La Salle’s spirituality for educators can be read
afresh in every age; it transcends its original time and place. Of course,
we need to read him in his context and be aware of what we bring to it as
well, allowing his horizon to fuse with our own, stretching both.” [Groome, p.
3]
“Beyond educators, the emerging lay
ecclesial ministries in our time are
searching urgently for a spirituality to
sustain them. This makes the writings of De
La Salle essential reading. As they have
given rise to and sustained one of the richest
charisms of Christian education over the past three hundred odd years
and a community of Brothers of the Christian Schools that have been
extraordinary educators, now they can be a rich treasury for the whole
church.” [Groome, p. 3]
Enduringly relevant
A spirituality for
Ministry
4
France in the sixteenth century was the
scene of intense religious activity, directed
mainly against the Protestants. However,
life within the Church itself was anything
but fervent. The decrees of the Council of
Trent (1545 – 1563) were failing to
transform the heart of the French Church;
the king had an inordinate influence over
Church property (and therefore Church
activity); the majority of bishops were more
interested in worldly concerns than in
promoting the living of the faith; priests
were poorly trained and often immoral, and
religious life was at a low ebb. In fact,
fighting the Protestants at times seemed to be the only thing that kept
Catholics Catholic. [Aumann, p. 218]
There were various key players who influenced the faith and spiritual
perspective of John Baptist de la Salle either directly or indirectly. Among
them are: Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Barbara Acarie, Brother
Lawrence of the Resurrection, Francis de Sales and Pierre de Bérulle.
When it comes to our experience and understanding of our faith, we do
not stand alone.
During this time France
led the way in the reform
of Catholic spirituality. It
was a time of turmoil
where people wrestled
with what it means to live
a life of faith in the midst
of a busy ever-changing
world…a world in which
the Church itself was
often its own worst enemy.
Sound familiar…?
Context is everything
5
“Great emphasis is placed on the presence
of God. La Salle did not consider this point
as a simple preparation for prayer; it was,
in itself, already prayer…La Salle often
visited the monastery of the Carmelite
Fathers on the rue de Vaugirard; he had
very probably met Brother Lawrence of the
Resurrection who lived there until 1691.
This unassuming layman was visited by
many Christians who sought to live the
gospel to its depth, but in an
uncomplicated way. Brother Lawrence
simply taught them the practice of the
presence of God.” [Deville, p. 179]
(The students) will be inspired to enter the classroom with profound
respect, out of consideration for the presence of God. When they have
reached the center of the room, they will make a low bow before the
crucifix and will bow to the teacher if one is present.
Then they will kneel to adore God and to say a short
prayer to the Blessed Virgin. After this, they will
arise, again bow before the crucifix in the same
manner, bow to the teacher, and go quietly and
silently to their regular places… [Conduct: Entering School
and the Beginning: Article 1]
Awareness of the presence of God
Students’
prayer and
recollection
6
From the time the teachers take their seats
until school begins,
they will apply
themselves to
reading the New
Testament and will
remain silent in
order to give an example to the students.
They will observe, however, all that takes
place in the school in order to maintain good
order…[Conduct: Entering School and Beginning School: Article 2]
As soon as the bell has ceased ringing, the prayer
leader will begin the prayers in a loud voice distinctly
and calmly. After making the
sign of the cross, and after all
the students have also made it,
the prayer leader will begin the
Veni Sancte Spiritus… [Conduct: Prayers: Article 1]
Teachers’ prayer and
recollection
COME, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of
Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire
of Thy love.
V. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall
be created
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the
earth.
Let us pray:
O GOD, Who taught the hearts of the
faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit,
grant that, by the gift of the same Spirit,
we may be always truly wise, and ever
rejoice in His consolation. Through
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Veni Sancte
Spiritus…
Come Holy
Spirit
7
No other prayers will be said in school; there
will be prayers on no other occasions than
those which are indicated in the present
Article. Nothing will be added to the prayers
indicated in the present Article without the
orders of the Superior of the Institute. In case
of some public necessity or for some other occasion which concerns the
needs of the Institute, the Superior may add the litany of the Blessed
Virgin or some other short prayer at the end of prayers, and for a specified
time only. [Conduct: Prayers: Article 3]
“La Salle’s genius consisted in understanding and repeating ceaselessly
to his Brothers that their ‘labour’ was bound to their ‘state’ and was totally
apostolic. Thus, they were to live under the influence and ‘the action’ of
the Holy Spirit.” [Deville, p. 178]
“On 7 April 1719, as he lay dying, John Baptist de la Salle summed up in
a single phrase the basic attitude of his life as a Christian: ‘In all things,
I adore God’s action in my life’. Throughout his life, his goal had been to
respond faithfully to the invitations of the Holy Spirit…despite sufferings,
heartbreak, separation, contradiction and every kind of darkness.” [Deville,
p. 173]
Keeping it simple
In all things I adore God’s
action in my life
John Baptist de la Salle
8
Catechism will be taught every day for a half
hour from 4:00 until 4:30 in the afternoon. [Conduct: Catechism: Article 1]
On Sundays and holy days, when catechism
lasts three times as long as on the other days,
teachers will always choose some story that
the students will enjoy, and will tell it in a way that will please them and
renew their attention, with details that will prevent the students from
being bored. Teachers will not say anything during the catechism lessons
unless they have read it in some well-approved book and of which they
are very certain. [Conduct: Catechism: Article 3]
Teachers will help students to apply themselves perfectly to the
catechism. This is not naturally easy for them and ordinarily does not last
long. For this purpose, teachers will employ the following means: 1) they
will take care not to rebuff or to confuse students, either by words or in
any other manner, when they are unable to answer properly the question
which has been asked them; 2) they will encourage and even help them to
say what they have difficulty in recalling; and 3) they will offer rewards,
which they will give from time to time to those who have been the best
behaved and the most attentive, or sometimes even to the more ignorant
who have made the greatest effort to learn
well. They will employ various other similar
means, which prudence and charity will
enable them to find, to encourage students
to learn the catechism more readily and to
retain it more easily.
[Conduct: Catechism: Article 3]
How to teach the things of
faith
A gentle approach
9
One of the French school central theological preoccupations concerned the
relationship between God (the Creator) and human beings (the creatures).
God is all: we are nothing. Our life in God is entirely dependent on the
action (grace) of God. God invites us into a relationship with himself,
inviting us to participate in his nature and perfection.
However, according to the proponents of
the French school, we have an important
role to play: We participate in our own
salvation by means of 1. faithfulness to
Christian practice, 2. detachment from the
world and its ways, 3. and self-denial.
These were among the means at the
individual’s disposal to bring about the
living of ‘true devotion’ – a concept
understood to signify having been
converted to such a degree that one was now living for God alone. We are
all called to this state of being – the creature living with his or her eyes
fixed firmly on the Creator.
A central emphasis for the French school thinkers was on the Incarnation
(the 2nd Person of the Blessed Trinity becoming human). They sought to
redress the prevailing negativity towards the ‘human’ around at the time.
It was thought that anything human was unhelpful and negative. Thanks
to the work of St Francis de Sales (see below) and the proponents of the
French school, the Catholic perspective on the human was rescued from
such negativity.
To understand this is
to understand
something important
about De La Salle’s
approach to the things
of faith.
In many way he was a
man of his time…
Influences
10
Instead, it was highlighted that if God
could become human then the human
must be inherently good and worthy
of respect. Rather than being an obstacle
to be overcome, our human nature is in
fact the means through which we are
united to God.
“It was not surprising that so many would
take to Francis so enthusiastically, for the
horizon of all his writings was the personal.” [Buckley, p. 33]
“Absolutely central to (his theology) and in
the face of the much of the theology of his
time, Francis de Sales placed the universal salvific will of God, a will
extended to every person…What was central to his understanding of God
was the universal, emphatic call of God to all human beings and in every
form of human life to that charity which was friendship and salvation.” [Buckley, pp. 34 – 35]
“The emphasis on the universal salvific will of God was the theological
foundation of Salesian piety, calling all human
beings from every walk of life to live out their
baptismal consecration in a deeply Christian
holiness.” [Buckley, p. 35]
“If Francis de Sales brought to the formation of
the seventeenth-century spirituality a sensitive
blending of the pastoral and the mystical, Pierre
de Bérulle associated the mystical with great
enterprises and with religious and secular
politics.” [Buckley, p. 42]
Influence of Francis de
Sales
11
“When all students have left the school, and the last two have reached the
street door and greeted the Inspector of Schools or the teacher there, one
of them will make a hand sign to this teacher that there are no more
students and that the teacher may go in. The teacher will reenter the
school immediately. When all of the teachers are assembled in one of the
classrooms and are kneeling before the crucifix, if the school is in the
Community House where the teachers live, the Inspector of Schools or the
Head Teacher will say, “Live Jesus in our hearts.” The others will answer,
“Forever.”
The invocation “Live Jesus in our hearts” was not, however, original with De La Salle. It is found in a variety of forms in many of the French spiritual writers of the 17th century. St. Francis de Sales (d. 1622), for example, writes in his Introduction to the Devout Life “Live, Jesus! Live, Jesus! Yes, Lord Jesus, live and reign in our hearts forever and ever. Amen.” And again, in his Treatise on the Love of God “Live, Jesus! Jesus, I love! Live, Jesus whom I love!” Similar sentiments can be found in other writers of the French school of spirituality, as it came to be known. Saint John Eudes (d. 1680) developed a theological spirituality, sometimes called a “heart-spirituality,” based on the love of God as exemplified in the heart of God, the heart of Jesus, and the heart of Mary and so implanted in our hearts.
Live Jesus in Our Hearts
Background
12
“Very briefly, 17th century spirituality is primarily a Christological spirituality focused on the man Jesus in whom the Word of God became human, the mystery of the Incarnation. For these authors, the mystery of the Incarnation continues to be lived out in the life of the Christian. The goal of Christian spirituality, then, is to identify with Jesus living within us, not only by imitating his way of life but, more deeply, by making one’s own the mentality, the mind set, the “heart” of Jesus in the various events of his life, especially his self-surrender to the will of his heavenly Father. A key text, expressive of this attitude of total self-effacement, is the kenotic hymn in the Epistle to the Philippians: “Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus who, though he was in the form of God did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave….” (Philippians 2: 5-11).”
“The spiritual writers of the French school found abundant evidence in the New Testament that led them to contemplate and foster communion with Jesus living within us. Thus, Saint Paul to the Galatians “It is no longer I who live but
Christ who lives within me” (Galatians 2: 20) and to the Ephesians “I pray that . . . Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Ephesians 3: 16-17). In his last discourse as recorded in John’s Gospel, Jesus says very pointedly, “Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14: 19-20).”
Scripture
13
“The verb is in an imperative or perhaps optative mood. As such it has an urgency about it. It is akin to the expression “come alive” as when we speak of something that has been dormant suddenly awakens and takes on new energy and vitality. To live, to have vitality, is a dynamic concept and is the very opposite of lethargy and death. Thus we speak of the life of the body, the life of the mind, the spiritual life, community life, or even the life of the Institute, the life of a school. Jesus has said, “I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance” (John 10: 10). Jesus is not only the way and the truth; he is the life (John 14: 6), the life that gives meaning to life in all its other forms. In addition, the verb “to live” implies permanence. Living is not only a momentary thing, it is linked to continuity, as in “Where do you live?” John’s Gospel tells us that the “Word became flesh and lived among us” (John 1: 14). His living among us is no longer in his mortal flesh but continues in the communication of his Spirit that he has sent as grace to be living with us and in us always. Viva life!”
“It is significant that our prayer refers to Jesus in this way. That is how he was referred to in his lifetime, that was his name as he grew to human maturity, a created human being just as we are…
To call him Jesus, then, is to invoke the reality of his full humanity which is the same as ours. Unlike the medieval theologians and the 17th century spiritual writers, theologians today do not resume that Jesus had access during his lifetime to all divine knowledge. He had to learn by experience as we do, he had to grow in wisdom, age, and grace and didn’t have it all at once. There were some things, like the timing
Live
Jesus
14
of the day of judgment, that he did not know. When he was sad, he wept; when faced with disgrace and death, he flinched; when his disciples fled, he was disappointed; when the Roman scourged him and nailed him to the cross, he felt intolerable pain; when he died, he felt abandoned.” [Luke Salm: Jesus in Lasallian Hearts]
There is more to Jesus than that, of course. Little by little it dawned on his human intelligence that the relationship between him and the God he called Father was something special and unique, that his humanity had been so graced with God’s self-communication in an unconditional and irrevocable way that his union with the divine could in later centuries be called hypostatic. Passing through death to resurrected life, Jesus, still human like us and united inseparably to divinity, entered a glorified existence freed from the limitations of time and space. His humanity, although not resuscitated to its historical state, was not destroyed in the process, merely transformed. As his first disciples, and then the communities they founded, accepted in faith what they could no longer see, they began to speak of Jesus as the Christ and Lord. They saw themselves as the body of Christ, the continuation of what God had begun in Jesus, that Jesus was the first born from the dead, that God’s self-communication in grace and glory was what God intended for everyone.
We Lasallians are often reminded that it is this Jesus who lives in our hearts. In the spirit of faith that De La Salle wanted to be the spirit of his Institute, we are caught up in faith into the mystery of the Incarnation. This Jesus in our hearts is one with us in his humanity, one with God in his divinity. Lasallians have an answer to the question Jesus once put to the Apostle Peter: “But who do you say that I am?” [Luke Salm: Jesus in Lasallian Hearts]
15
What a powerful symbol is the heart! It is used to refer to the seat of emotion, especially the emotion of love, that points beyond emotion to the full reality of self-giving love. The heart thus becomes the symbol of the self. When Jesus invites us
to learn of him because he is meek and humble of heart, he is telling something about himself. Sometimes the heart is set in contrast to the head, as something warmer, more subjective, more personal, more than purely intellectual. Thus when we ask that Jesus live in our hearts we do more than say that we believe doctrines about Jesus. We take the person of Jesus into our very selves, into our subjectivity, into our hearts. As Christians we become so united to Jesus living within us that we become other Christs to those we serve.
As an expression of Lasallian spirituality, “Live Jesus in our hearts forever!” cannot reflect a spirituality divorced from community and from mission. It is significant that the prayer refers to Jesus living in our hearts. The life of Jesus within us is something we share in a Lasallian educational community. The warrant for this comes from the word of Jesus: “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18: 20). The presence of Jesus among us gives life and motivation to our Lasallian association for the educational mission which is the mission of Jesus himself, that “the poor have the Gospel preached to them.” It is with Jesus in our hearts that we become capable of “touching hearts,” as De La Salle so often urged his followers to do. One in Christ and in one another, “we are all in this together.”
In our hearts
16
This traditional conclusion to Lasallian prayer has advantages over a simple “Amen.” It must be granted that as a final prayer the Amen has a long tradition rooted in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, as well as in the tradition of the
synagogue and the Christian churches. Nor is the Amen missing from many of our prayers offered in a Lasallian context. But as a parting sentiment, the Amen is altogether too final. It affirms with vigor what has gone before, but it does nothing to keep the sentiment of the prayer moving and pointing to what is to follow.
“Live Jesus in our hearts forever!” sends Lasallians away from formal prayer in the hope and belief that the presence of Jesus in their hearts is something that continues, that all else that comes from the heart, especially the sense of mission, is energized by the ongoing presence therein of the very self of Jesus. It provides a way of fulfilling the Gospel mandate to “pray always,” that is, to make all that one does a prayer in union with the Jesus who was always at prayer.
What follows the prayer is usually either a session in the classroom or else a formal gathering of some sort. In either case the “forever” assures us that Jesus stays with us even though our full attention now has to turn to the lesson to be taught, the presentation to be made, or the dialogue to be carried forward. Beyond our immediate concerns the prayer reminds us that we carry Jesus in our hearts in whatever else we do, not only for the rest of the day, or the week, or the year, but on and on through a lifetime. That is what forever means.
Finally, “forever” in the context of the Lasallian prayer refers not only to endless time but to eternity. The day will come for each one of us when time will be no more, when “forever” will mean the liberation from the limits of time and space, the experience of absolute mystery
Forever
17
as the self-communication of God in timeless glory. That is when the end product of the Lasallian mission, the ultimate salvation of those entrusted to our care, becomes a reality for them and for us who carry on that mission. Then the life of Jesus within us, “in our hearts,” will no longer be a matter of faith but of sight, of an experience so immediate and fulfilling that it has been called beatific. Beatification is the destiny for all of us when we experience what it means to have Jesus living in our hearts for all eternity. Forever! [Luke Salm: Jesus in
Lasallian Hearts]
John Baptist de la Salle
“prayed…that Jesus ‘come and live in our hearts,’
so that his entire existence, most profound
attitudes and daily behaviour might be
transformed by the Lord.
This short prayer was a cry of love and desire.
It must be understood as the dynamic summary of
an entire body of teachings on prayer and texts for
meditation.”
Deville, p. 178
18
References:
1. Conduct of the Christian Schools: see https://lasallian.info/wp-
content/uploads/2012/12/Conduct-2007-reprint.pdf
2. Aumann, Jordan. Christian Spirituality in the Catholic
Tradition. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986/1994 pp. 218 –
260.
3. Buckley, Michael. ‘Seventeenth-Century French Spirituality’ in
Dupre, Saliers and Meyendorff (Eds) Christian Spirituality:
Post-Reformation and Modern. (New York: Crossroad, 1989) pp.
28 – 68.
4. Deville, Raymond. ‘John Baptist de La Salle’ in The French
School of Spirituality: An Introduction and Reader. Pittsburgh:
Duquesne University Press, 1994 pp. 171 – 188.
5. Groome, Thomas. ‘Preface’ in Koch, Calligan and Gros (Eds):
John Baptist de La Salle: The Spirituality of Christian
Education (New York: Paulist Press, 2004) pp. 1 – 3.
6. Salm, Luke: ‘Jesus in Lasallian Hearts’: (Unpublished work)
7. Saward, John: ‘Bérulle and the French School’ in Jones,
Wainwright and Yarnold (Eds): The Study of Spirituality
(London: SPCK, 1986/1992) pp. 386 – 396.
8. On the significance of small acts of kindness and love:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb_wkZ_H5Ss
19
Notes
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________