Not long
ago, we received a wonderful email from Duke Banks ’64, which was triggered by
his receipt of the School’s annual Christmas card. The card featured a portrait
of Brother Solomon, our newest Lasallian saint, with an explanation of how his
canonization was approved by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints because
of a miraculous cure of a young girl in Caracas, Venezuela. It seemed
altogether a bizarre connection between an obscure 18th Century
Christian Brother who was martyred in the French Revolution and the Catholic
community in Caracas who had been venerating a statue of Brother Solomon over
the course of the last fifty years. It turns out Duke’s extended Venezuelan
family (he was born in Caracas with Venezuelan heritage on both sides) was
intimately connected to educational institutions sponsored by the Christian
Brothers in Central America. Somewhere, along the way, a statue of Brother
Solomon ended up in a chapel serving residents living on the outskirts of
Caracas. The Chaplain, who was educated by the Christian Brothers, gave the
statue pride of place in the Sanctuary and, upon its installation, declared:
“We receive Blessed
Solomon, and we will yet make him a Saint.”
It only took a mere fifteen years for that to happen. Also
note that, through Duke Banks ’64, La Salle also enjoys a remote connection to
the Febres Cordero family – from which emerged Brother Miguel Febres Cordero,
the first Lasallian saint of the Americas and the first saint of Ecuador, his
home country.
I dwell on this wonderful story of the little-known La Salle
connection to Brother Solomon because, it seems to me that as the English
Romantic Poet, William Wordsworth, penned at the time of the Industrial
Revolution:
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers
His critique, back then (and, perhaps, applicable to this
modern-day moment) was described by one critic as: “the decadent material cynicism of the time.” The
current news cycle is rife with cynical and apocalyptic stories of political
intrigue, charges of cronyism and a never-ending (and exhausting) Washington
battle over how to provide health care for 22 million people who would not,
ordinarily, have a reasonable opportunity to access it. It is at times like
this that I conclude that “the world is too much with us.”
I suppose it was
ever thus. After all Saint Solomon was confronted by the awful choice of
denying his vowed commitment to the Church and losing his life – and that was
over two hundred years ago! I think we can learn something from Brother
Solomon’s steadfast commitment to his vows. We may be fortunate not to have to
consider the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our life’s commitments, but we
aren’t excused – any more than Saint Solomon was – from living our lives with
dignity and integrity. Here is what Brother Robert Schieler, the Superior
General of the Christian Brothers had to say about Brother Solomon at the time
of his canonization:
“Brother Solomon gives us a lesson of great integrity and loyalty with
the options taken, even at the sacrifice of his life. And God only knows how
necessary it is today to live with integrity and loyalty in a world where it
has become normal to trample rights unscrupulously against our conscience,
against others and against God, for mere interest and profit ... Secondly, there
is another message that Brother Solomon proposes to Christian teachers and
consecrated persons in general: to be witnesses of Christ, whatever the
cost. The world today needs more than
ever loyalty, consistency, justice, generosity, altruism even at the cost of
your own life. “
This last sentence captures, for me, the essential challenge
this Lasallian school in Pasadena must face every day if we are to be faithful
to the principles of our founding Brothers as well as those in a long line of
Brothers who preceded and followed Saint Solomon: to exercise loyalty,
consistency, justice, generosity and altruism even when the world around us
appears to have abandoned them.
It seems to me that we need more heroes. The turbulent
present moment admits of little by way of seeing past the intense conflict
between political factions. Even within the Catholic Church, we encounter those
who celebrate the leadership of Pope Francis as ground breaking and necessary
and those who fear his innovative style will erode cherished traditions and
beliefs. I’m not clear on why our American culture insists on a divisive
either/or rather than an embracive both/and; but here we are, passively
co-dependent on a Hobson’s Choice which, more often than not, forces us into no
choice. Elsewhere[i],
I’ve observed that Pope Francis is not only the first Jesuit pontiff, but quite possibly, given his preferential option
for the poor and marginalized, the first Lasallian
pontiff. Our Lasallian world calls us to pay attention to heroes – saints –
in order to inspire us to be the better people we want to be.
Pope Francis is, for me, one of those heroes, but also, by
example, highlights the wonderful young people we are sending off to college
and a life of purpose and fulfillment. This is where I find strength in knowing
that the Lasallian educational mission is not only alive and well, but able to
nurture in those who encounter it a commitment to lifelong learning, service and leadership.
As we begin a new year at La Salle (my nineteenth!), let’s
pray that the courage and integrity that inspired Saint Solomon will enable all
of us who are responsible for the students entrusted to our care to demonstrate
a similar, quiet heroism in the midst of a world that sometimes seems to have
lost its bearings. After 60 years of fidelity to the principles of Saint John
Baptist de La Salle, the Founder of the Christian Brothers, I think this Lasallian
community is up to the challenge.
[i] Cf. my February, 2015 Blog entry (http://lasallehs.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2015-12-01T15:59:00%2B01:00&max-results=7&start=7&by-date=false)
WHAT MAKES POPE FRANCIS DIFFERENT?
