Faith is not only to believe what we do not see...

Today is a “retreat” day (I thought the whole month was a retreat!). We began the day with Brother John Cantwell doing a reflection on the last chapter of the Gospel of Matthew and the “Great Commission” (“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”) As I thought about this passage in the context of the themes of “Association” and “Shared Mission” it occurred to me that, while the last three weeks have focused on the Brothers’ effort to ensure that their mission “to provide a human and Christian education to the young, especially the poor” continues as more and more laypeople partner with them, it is equally important to consider the question “to what end” is this Mission shared? As I move through my tenth year at La Salle, it has taken me a long time to fully understand the “human and Christian” part of the Lasallian Mission. De La Salle, I now understand, believed that children needed both human and Christian salvation. By that he meant the children entrusted to our care need to be given the skills – through education - to be successful in life so that they would have the time and the opportunity to focus on their spiritual salvation. In seventeenth century France that meant the Catholic Church; in 21st century United States that notion of salvation is broadened to include all paths to God. De La Salle’s genius was in recognizing that poor children will be “far from salvation” as he described it as long as they are denied the means to escape poverty. I spent the day thinking about how this translates to La Salle, Pasadena. Readers of the Parent Newsletter and Lancer Magazine will recall that I frequently write about our twin mission to produce good students and good people. This has been my shorthand way of describing De La Salle’s notion of a “human and Christian” education. This month in Rome and, in particular, today’s time in retreat has helped clarify for me the central importance of this aspect of our effort to make sure that La Salle High School is faithful to the Brothers’ reason for existence – to bring children closer to God. The “what” of “Shared Mission” is as important as the “why?” If La Salle High School isn’t grounded in something larger than an excellent college preparation, then our students would be well served at any of the fine college prep schools in and around Pasadena. We must continually strive to make sure that our students understand that their education is more than just academic – it is also spiritual – and for reasons as powerful today as they were in 1680. Brother Alvaro, the Superior General of the Christian Brothers, opened the 44th General Chapter with these comments: “Our world is becoming a cultural desert with the triumph of consumerism.” “…faith is not only to believe what we do not see, but also to not believe in what we do see, convinced that beyond all appearances, good is gaining ground.”

As I see it, this is a pretty good reason for La Salle High School to continue sharing the Brothers’ Mission for another fifty years.

* This painting - which hangs in one of the smaller chapels in the Motherhouse - depicts De La Salle commissioning two Brothers to go to Rome to establish a school - ensuring that the Institute would one day become world-wide.