We have come together here to commend you to God. Adieu, Michel.

This community of your family, of your Brothers and your friends, gathered together here, has not been summoned by death, but by the life-giving strength which animated all you life and which, now, draws you towards the Father, in Jesus.

Paraphrasing one of the Lenten hymns, we bid you to

Press on with your passing, Michel,
Walk towards your joy,
Life will spring from death,
God walks with you,
And saves you from the night.

We believe that God "walks with you" and in the lives of each one of us. We believe that life springs out of death and that, already, you share today and totally in the mystery of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that our broken condition will be transformed by the glorified Jesus. We believe that He has the power to transform us. And today, Michel, you make this mystery present to us.

Comforted by this belief, and in spite of our grief, we wish to day to offer thanks for your life, for the gifts which God gave you for your ministry in the world, in the Institute and in the Church.

In the name of the Brothers of the entire Institute, I recall with them the impassioned love which guided and led you to consecrate you life to God, in this association of the Brothers of the Christian Schools which you so loved. Yours was a loving passion for God, to whom you entrusted yourself, placing yourself completely in his hands, for his Work of Redemption achieved in Jesus Christ, for the poor and the most needy of this world, for his Church called by his Spirit to serve.

In the name of your students and the student Brothers of the entire world, I offer thanks for your ministry of education. For the courses which you offered in your District, and in the Jesus Magister and other Universities. By means of them all, you planted in the hearts of many the love for Jesus Christ and in consequence for sharing in his mission of liberation. Your courses were marked by a new theological vision, consecrated in brotherhood for mission. In them, you encouraged the growth of the meaning of association and of professional commitment to the poor, in combining growth in faith, gospel brotherhood, and a clear proclamation of the liberating Gospel of Jesus for the poor.

In the name of Brothers from different Regions of the world, I offer thanks for your work as Assistant for Formation, especially in Latin America, which you loved so well. You passed among us there, animating retreats, directing sessions, offering courses : and this caused to be born in us the yearning and hunger for new beginning. In all Regions, and particularly in France where you were Regional, you leant your weight to the creation of works for the poor. You ignited in us all the flame of the power of the Spirit of renewal and of rebuilding, which binds us together and makes us co-workers with God, creating a new heaven and a new earth. You made us become aware of the meaning of the lay ministry which God has entrusted to us in the Church, for the benefit of those who are alienated and strangers to His promises and His covenants.

In the name of all the Brothers, Collaborators and Associates in the Institute, I offer thanks for your leadership and for the publications which renewed Lasallian studies. You not only succeeded in making us reread our past in a more critical and enlightened manner, but you also invited us to imitate the daring of our Founder, in responding to the urgent needs of children and of the poor of today's world. In the programmes of CIL, in Chapters and Assemblies at regional and international levels, you appeared as the prophet of hope. In all of us, associated for the educational service of the poor, you nurtured a faith enlivened by hope, and fulfilled in the love which commits us to others.

But you did not remain within the boundaries of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. In the name of numerous Congregations of men and women, represented here today by so many Religious who knew you, I also offer thanks. You brought a fresh light of renewal by means of your articles, your publications, and the countless sessions and retreats which you conducted for them. The esteem which they have shown for you over the course of all these years is the proof of the vigour with which you were present to them, and with which you loved them.

In the name of the whole Church of God, symbolically built on the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul, in the City you so loved, I bid you farewell. I give thanks for your contribution as a theologian and as a catechist, joined with so many Brothers of France who have contributed to the renewal desired by Vatican II, by their works in catechesis, in pedagogy, in the midst of the poor.

Finally, Brother Michel, I bid you farewell in the name of the Institute of the 21st Century, to the heralding that you were able to proclaim. With the Brothers of my Council, I give thanks to God for the heritage which you have left us, for the inspiration and drive which you have placed in the heart of a new sense of association, now being born in an Institute where one facet dies but to be reborn with both drive and enthusiasm renewed.

Your paschal journey vividly portrays for us this death to gain a new life. We believe that out of death will arise a new life. Together and by association, with you and with those who have preceded us, we commit and bind ourselves to respond to the educational needs of the poor in the most deprived sectors of our world. We know that you intercede for us before the Father, and remake your ties of association with us. With you and with your help, we too renew the links of association among ourselves, and with all those who have preceded us into the Father's house and shine as stars for all eternity.

Good-bye, Michel.

God be with you.