Lasallian Reflections

“The more uncomplicated your view of faith, the more surely you will be disposed to simplicity of action and conduct, which is the disposition God wants of you.”      –  St. John Baptist de La Salle[1] Artists, mystics, and children have an advantage over most of the rest of folks. They naturally gravitate toward simplicity, and they naturally adopt an irritatingly narrow focus on the most basic and immediate kinds … Read More

When the students begin to write, it will be useful and appropriate to give them a stick of the thickness of a pen to hold. On the sticks, there will be three grooves,  two on the right and one on the left. These grooves indicate the places where the three fingers should be placed. This teaches the students to hold the pen properly in their fingers and makes them hold … Read More

Take care not to let yourself be discouraged by anxieties and ailments; life is full of them. Leave aside all your worry about the present and all your anxiety about the future; occupy yourselves with what you have to do at each moment as it is given to you, and do not burden the day which is passing with doubts about the day to follow. God gives us not only … Read More

Jesus Christ compares those who have charge of souls to a good shepherd who has great care for the sheep. One quality he must possess, according to our Savior, is to know each one of them individually. This ought also to be one of the main concerns of those who instruct others: to be able to understand their students and to discern the right way to guide them.     … Read More

Do you instruct those for whom you are responsible with the attention and the zeal God asks of you in so holy a work?  By your good conduct, be worthy of this distinguished role. Act in such a way that your life may begin today to be holy, and edifying and continue to be such in the future.                         … Read More

Photo by Rosie Kerr on Unsplash To whom ought we to give ourselves if not to the One from whom we have received everything. … This thought and the gratitude we owe him for all his goodness to us ought to have frequently occupied our minds and touched our hearts during this year.  –  St. John Baptist de La Salle[1] Have you ever noticed that the most grateful people we know are those … Read More

Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash Example makes a much greater impression on the mind and the heart than words, especially for children … They are led more readily to do  what they see done for them than what they hear told to them. –  St. John Baptist de La Salle[1] October 13th will see the canonization of John Henry Newman here in Rome, where I am right now for a couple of … Read More

Photo by Andrew Seaman on Unsplash Applying ourselves to the presence of God is a most useful practice; be faithful to it.  –  St. John Baptist de La Salle[1] There has been a lot of press over David Brook’s new book, The Second Mountain. In one section, he talks about how “grace” is, or becomes, a part of our lives. Grace, he says, is not the result of a rational … Read More

The remembrance of God’s presence will be a great advantage in helping you and in inspiring you to do all your actions well.  –  St. John Baptist de La Salle[1] Like De La Salle himself, we keep coming back to that central, shimmering, pregnant insight about remembering God’s presence in all that we see, do, and pursue. Christ dwells in the midst of the daily tasks, encounters, decisions, and experiences … Read More

All you need and all God wants of you is that you remain in his presence.  –  St. John Baptist de La Salle – [1]   The quotation above is from one of the few letters that we have from the thousands that De La Salle wrote.  While it is only one sentence out of a long letter – and the letter’s tone is definitely 17th century French spirituality – … Read More