(This talk, given at the International Symposium of Young Lasallians in Quebec in July, 2002, is the annual message of the Superior General to all Lasallian youth.)

Dear young Lasallians,

It is a great joy to be able to share this wonderful international Colloquium with you today here in Quebec where we gather in the name of De La Salle. First of all, I would like to thank those who have made this meeting possible. It is my hope that this meeting will strengthen the Lasallian movement on the world stage and that it will allow us, all over the Lasallian world, where we are present in more than eighty countries, to lend a hand in building a more fraternal society. It surprised me that the Pope, in the letter he sent us on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the birth of the Founder, said: "In this context I encourage the Brothers to make their houses schools of fraternal life...collaborating in this undertaking with the young people entrusted to you and with the lay partners who collaborate in your mission, helping all of them to discover and to share the charism of the Institute. I am delighted with the initiatives taken thus far, such as the creation of the 'Lasallian Youth Network' which will be beneficial to maintain and to develop." Our colloquium has no other purpose than this.

We live today in a globalized world and every effort to globalize Lasallian values is worth the effort. I am speaking about how to introduce values that identify us and which are rooted in the Gospel in this global movement, in such a way that the movement becomes a globalization of opportunities for all, a globalization of solidarity, love, justice, and peace.

I think that in this endeavor, you young Lasallians have a very important role to play. I want to share with you an experience that I had during the two years that I have served as Superior General. Actually, it was an experience repeated twice at opposite ends of Latin America, first in León, Nicaragua, and then in Temuco, Chile. While speaking of the topic of association, which was a topic at our last General Chapter, I made no mention of young people. In both cases, one of the young listeners got up to say that young Lasallians also want to be associated with us to live out our charism.

I believe that these young people made me realize the great force that the Lasallian youth movement represents. In addition to these experiences I would have to include how I was impacted by the happy, fraternal and generous presence of so many young Lasallians during the World Youth Day in Rome two years ago. I am convinced that today, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Lasallian charism can be a source of inspiration for your lives and for your programs.

Traditionally, we have summed up our charism in three basic areas that should motivate our activities. First, we are called to deepen our faith, to see reality with the eyes of God and to discover that we are sons or daughters of a God who loves us freely and unconditionally. This experience should translate into fraternity or community, because being children of God should lead us to feel that we are brothers and sisters to others and that we should build a more just world. Finally, fraternity ought to culminate in service because life only has value if it is given for others, especially the poor, young people who are at risk, all those who have had fewer opportunities in life than we have had.


Saint John Baptist de La Salle invites us to look at the world with the eyes of faith in such a way that we can say that the two Lasallian places of encounter with God are REALITY and the WORD OF GOD. De La Salle always looked upon everything with a contemplative view of reality, a double view, if you will. On the one hand there is God's saving plan, discovered in his Word and in prayer; on the other hand, there is the historic view of the abandonment of the children of artisans and the poor. Both views have the same goal: to put the means of salvation within the reach of young people who are far from it.

This is really a triple movement: seeing reality, looking upon it with the Word of God, being committed to actions that transform. This plan is what all authentic Lasallians should try to live out. The encounter with God in Lasallian terms will never be an individual search, but a community adventure; it will never mean running away from the world, but it will mean commitment to and service in the world.

In light of the Word the Founder discovered the Father's saving plan: "God is so good that, having created us, he wills that all of us come to the knowledge of truth" (Meditation 193.1). Following in the footsteps of our Founder, we are also called to integrate these areas in our lives. For this, the Founder gives us some very concrete means that come from a "spirit," which is a vital impulse, an inner strength, new life. Here we speak of the spirit of faith, symbolized in the star on our shield, which translates into zeal for the salvation of the world.

1. Contemplating his face:

First of all, the spirit of faith invites us to look at life, events, history, as places where God is made manifest. Here we are speaking of looking at everything in the light of faith or in the light of God, and to discover Him present in his Word, in men and women, in the poor, in nature, in history, and in ourselves.


¨ In the GOSPEL, his Word always alive and ever present. For De La Salle, the Gospel was not a book which evoked a story of the past, but the Good News of a close God who loves us as we are "today." And it is up to us to make that gratuitous love present to the world, that love which we experience in our lives.

¨ In HUMAN PERSONS made in the image of God and the revelation of his mysteries.

¨ In the POOR. If everyone is a reflection of the face of God it is especially in the poor where his manifestation is greater. The Founder invites us to "recognize Jesus beneath the poor rags of the children" (Meditation 96.3). The more we have this attitude, the more we will be attentive and sensitive to all forms that are opposed to God's saving plan. Being sensitive to, and defending human rights, especially those of children, is part of our Lasallian vocation.

¨ In NATURE, the place of the marvels of God. It is this nature, which each year is renewed in passing from the death of winter to the life of spring. We need only to open our eyes to find God. The sky, mountains, the sea...all of these are gifts from God. By means of the book of the world, we can reach the author of everything.

¨ In HISTORY, the place of God's activities, where his saving plan is made manifest. In a certain way for the Christian, all of history is sacred, because it reveals God and his love for the world. Therefore, two types of reading are mandatory for all young Lasallians. The Bible, especially the Gospels, where God is revealed in his Word and the newspaper or the television news, where each day I can discover the face of God through world events about which I cannot be indifferent.

¨ In MYSELF, the temple of the Trinity. The more I go deeply into myself the more I encounter God. This was the experience of Saint Augustine: "I loved you late in life, beauty so ancient and so new, I loved you late in life. You were in my inner being and I was outside and I set about searching for you in all the beautiful things created by You."

2. Searching for his will:

Secondly, the spirit of faith invites us always to search for God's will. Basically, this involves searching for the best way to carry out God's saving plan. It is interesting to note that our founder in his writings cites this text from John four times: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). God's will is that each person might have a full life. Therefore, because I have experienced in my life the loving and freeing actions of God, I decide to share with my brothers and sisters my lived experience and to commit myself to God's work, as De La Salle liked to say.

3. Trusting in his love:

Thirdly, the spirit of faith involves always trusting God, abandoning myself into his hands. And I can do it because the Lord is always there, in my inner being. Therefore De La Salle always insisted on the presence of God and I can do this, because the Lord is not only there, but he also leads me in my own history and in the history of humankind. This is one of the principal Lasallian ideas: God seeks us first, before we seek Him; God is already present, God guides us. It is up to us to open ourselves to Him, recognizing Him by faith.

The founder tells us how he experienced this presence and God's guidance in his own life: "God, who does everything with wisdom and gentleness and who is not accustomed to force the inclinations of mankind, wanting that I commit myself to and completely take charge of the schools, did it in an imperceptible way and over a long period of time, so that one commitment led to another without being foreseen from the beginning." (Memoir on the Beginnings). Might not this colloquium be for you a call from God to make a greater commitment?

CONCLUSION

Dear young Lasallians, I would like to conclude by sharing with you one of the most beautiful experiences that I have had as Superior General. Last December I participated in the sixth Young Lasallians Meeting in Sydney, Australia. This meeting was organized by the PARC (Asia, Pacific) Region. There were 180 young people who came from various cultures and religions such as Japan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Singapore, Australia, and Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.

What impressed me the most during this Congress in Australia was to see young people from so many countries, cultures and who were even of different religions who identified with Lasallian values of faith, community, and service, and these values had meaning for their lives. In few places have I seen a greater internalization and living out of these values.

With regard to faith, I was struck by the prayers that were offered by the group very freely and creatively but also with great depth and with great ability to be silent at times; on the community level, I was deeply moved by one event in particular. One of the young people from New Zealand, as he was speaking about his group experience, was moved to tears, and immediately all his companions surrounded him, embraced him, and encouraged him to continue. I believe that this event is worth more than many words spoken about fraternity. Finally, with regard to service, at the end of the meeting, and after having had the opportunity to visit specific places in Sydney, the desire on the part of everyone to do something for others was very clear and the most often repeated question was: What can we do?

The response to this question, in Lasallian terms, can be nothing other than a clear and energetic commitment in favor of the most fragile and vulnerable members of our society. Our last General Chapter invited us to be very attentive to the new forms of poverty that affect our world today. We know, on the other hand, that the Lasallian Institute came into being for the poor. What I said to the Brothers on the day of my election and which I shared with the young Lasallians during the World Youth Day in Rome, seems to me to be very relevant for you: "Should we not today live out our charism starting from the poor children and young people who continue being the weakest and most fragile links in our society? In addition to problems of affection and abuse that exist within families, many of whom are broken, in many places children are seen as being on the way to other situations no less degrading. Without trying to include everyone, we can think about child laborers, street children, child soldiers or war victims, children who are sold, malnourished children, children who are uneducated...Would they not be the ones to energize and rekindle our charism? Is it not in them where God mainly reveals himself to us?"

I hope that at the conclusion of the colloquium you also feel motivated to live out more authentically the Lasallian values that should characterize us, based on a deep faith in a God who wants all to be saved, a joyful sense of fraternity that will help you to overcome all barriers, and a sense of service which shows that life has meaning only when it is given to others. Let us not forget that every young Lasallian, like all those who participate in the charism of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, is called to be God's SIGN for the world.

Today, the torch is passed to you young people, and the future of the Lasallian Institute is, in large measure, in your hands. I know that you will not let us down.