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 Message to the Young Lasallians 2003
Brother Álvaro Rodríguez Echeverría
Superior General
Rome, September 1, 2003 |
 WE ARE COUNTING ON YOU
Dear Young Lasallians:
In the Final message, at the end of the last General Chapter, we said that we count on you - on your creativity, drive and enthusiasm - to bring to fruition in today's world the Lasallian ideals of faith, fraternity and service. Today, too, the Church also counts on you.
In this regard I would like to recall the insightful remarks of John Paul II to the youth in Toronto: ".What humanity is moving towards, in the midst of so much injustice and suffering, is a new civilization marked by liberty and peace. To achieve this end requires a new generation of "builders" moved not by fear or violence but by the urgency of authentic love, a generation that knows how to build, stone upon stone, in the city of mankind that is the city of God. Dear young people, allow me to express my hope - these "builders" must be you. You are the men and women of tomorrow. In your hearts and in your hands lies the future. God gives you the difficult but thrilling task of collaborating with Him in the creation of a civilisation of love" (Toronto, n.4, 27th July 2002).
During the month of May I had the opportunity to participate in the 3rd International Congress of Lasallian Former Students. It was a magnificent experience in which many young people played important roles. The theme of the Congress was "Called to Serve". I would like to share with you now the same commitments to service that I proposed to our Former Students a few weeks ago and, in so doing, propose them to you too. All of these commitments, along the lines indicated by the Pope, are directed to the creation of a better world in which all of us can live as sons and daughters of God and brothers and sisters to each other.
 Young Lasallians, we count on you to serve children by defending their rights
Our Institute was born to serve children. Yet, we know that, unfortunately, as much in the North as in the South, children are the most fragile and vulnerable link in our societies. We can call to mind child labour, street children, child soldiers and victims of armed conflicts, displaced or refugee children, children who have been abducted or sold, malnourished children, abused children, children without education, children given over to prostitution, unwanted, unloved and uncared for children. Young Lasallians, we count on you to make the Defence of the Rights of the Child a flag of our Lasallian family. What can you do? I think that you can do much - whether through direct service as volunteers, or through an active participation in local organisations that work to defend the rights of children, or by a respectful and friendly treatment of those children with whom you are in contact.
Young Lasallians, we count on you to help other young people to find meaning in life
As Lasallians in today's world we are called not only to offer service to young people, important as this may be, but even more to help them find meaning in their lives. I am convinced that, in this sense, you can do much for your contemporaries since you have the same experiences and needs, and experience the same frustrations and hopes. Consequently, it is important that you are attentive to the new forms of poverty that emerge in the world of youth and that you respond wherever it is necessary - helping those who are anxious about an uncertain future, submerged by a technological world, overwhelmed by the imperialism of sex and drugs, tempted by individualism and self-absorption, to move beyond themselves to give their lives generously to the service of others, especially to those who are most in need and in situations of risk.
I am also convinced that you, young people, are the best evangelisers of other young people. You are on the same wavelength and you can understand better their deficiencies, their projects and their ideals. In consequence, I invite you to be witnesses of the Beatitudes helping other young people to recognise that they are loved, valued and blessed. In a society in which everything has a price, I invite you to be witnesses of gratuity that enables us to develop the capacity to contemplate, to thank, to be enthralled in the face of mystery and beauty. I invite you to make visible through your lives the invisible God whom we can know better through human love.
Young Lasallians, we count on you to serve the poor and the marginalized
In order to do this it is necessary to know the situation of the poor and to be sensitive to it. The poor exist and they are the majority - three quarters of humanity or, in other words, 4,000 million people. This situation has worsened rather than improved in the last 20 years. The prospects for improvement are not good given the international pressures that force governments to implement policies that limit social expenditure.
We have to see the poor with the eyes of the God of Jesus, the Father of life, and hear their cry. We know that the mission of the Son of God in history, a mission of compassionate solidarity, emerged from God's contemplation of the world. Our challenge is to be compassionate as our heavenly Father is compassionate. This is a compassionate solidarity through which we allow ourselves to be affected by the sufferings of others, acting against avoidable sufferings and assuming the task of finding solutions that bring hope and transformation.
In a special way, I invite you to be attentive to the situations that were indicated in our 42nd General Chapter of 1993. That was 10 years ago but, unfortunately, those situations have only worsened: ".migratory movements, racism, urban violence, terrorism, drug addiction, loss of basic human values, crisis of faith, refusal of religious education, attraction to sects, unemployment, AIDS, hunger, illiteracy, street children, homelessness, contempt for life, broken families, school dropouts." (Circular 435, p.22).
At a European level, it seems to me that we must pay special attention to the phenomenon of emigration and racism. You, young people, have less prejudice than adults. Help us, through your free, open and tolerant way of dealing with differences to always have an open heart and to look for the best solutions for those who are obliged to leave their homes, friends, environment and country as they seek to begin a new life of dignity and work.
Young Lasallians, we count on you to create community
One of the experiences that has made the greatest impact on me during my visits in the Lasallian world is the experience of fraternity that I met in each of our schools. Particularly during my visit to South East Asia in January and February of this year, I was able to see our centres as places of dialogue, respect, tolerance, and coexistence between people of different cultures and religions. I was very impressed by the manner in which the young people in these schools are capable of overcoming differences and living in fraternity.
I would like to share with you an experience of fraternity that has profoundly affected me. I was lucky enough two years ago to participate in a Congress of Young Lasallians of the Asia-Pacific Region and I was very impressed by the fact that, when one of the representatives of the group "Brothers in Action" from New Zealand was overcome by emotion as he presented one of their service projects, his whole delegation got up and went over to him to support and be with him in his experience. It was a marvellous experience. And I think that it was a sign that spoke more loudly than words of the quality of their friendship and great solidarity. Personally, I interpreted this as an extraordinary expression of the value of fraternity that inspires us Lasallians. If we are moved to the service of others our commitment is reinforced, and becomes more effective, when we feel supported by others in these service projects for those who most need us.
Young Lasallians, we count on you to be builders of peace in a divided world
I believe that we are living in a graced moment in which there is a growing awareness on the one hand, that war has never been and never will be a solution and, on the other, that we must create and develop a culture of peace. Our option must be for peace, for the poor, and for those who suffer. I like very much the English term "peacemaker". I think that it defines very well the attitude that we must permanently adopt. "No" to war must be translated into a "Yes" for life, and for life in its fullness. A similar invitation was given to young people this year by John Paul II in his Message for the 17th World Youth Day in presenting to us the dead and resurrected Christ as the victor over evil and death: ".At this time, threatened by violence, hatred and war, you must witness to the fact that He, and He alone, can bring peace to people's heart, to families, and to the people of the world. Strive to seek and promote peace, justice and fraternity and don't forget the words of the Gospel: Blessed are those who work for peace for they shall be called sons of God" (Mt 5:9).
Young Lasallians, we count on you in our desire to promote the unity of the human family through ecumenism and interreligious dialogue
A powerful experience that I had during my recent visit to South East Asia during the months of January and February was to see how Lasallian values can be incarnated and be a source of inspiration in different cultures and religions. The witness in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia of young Lasallians of different religions united in the same ideals was a real revelation for me. I experienced something similar in the meeting of the Young Lasallians of the Asia-Pacific Region that I mentioned earlier where I saw how young people of so many different cultures and religions were capable of living a profound experience of fraternity and identifying themselves through common values.
For you, as young Christians, this does not imply a renunciation of evangelical values capable of purifying and enriching every culture. The person and the message of Jesus - of affiliation, fraternity, unconditional love, and pardon without limits - are the greatest riches that we can give to others in their relation with God, with others and with the world. However, from a profound experience of faith, you must continually open yourselves to an ecumenical and interreligious dialogue that will enable you to be builders of a society that is more just and fraternal and in which diversities are accepted and respected.
Conclusion
You, Young Lasallians, with your open and tolerant spirit must help us live with greater intensity our charism, spirituality and communion in a life of faith that discovers God in all things in the light of the Scriptures and, for people of other religions, in their own sacred texts. We are called to translate this faith into fraternity because beyond our differences we recognise ourselves as brothers and sisters. And this fraternity becomes transformed in service in order to create a world that is in greater solidarity and more human - so as to be builders of peace and reconciliation, so that the poor are able to have what is necessary to enable them to live with dignity, and in which creation will be respected, created and loved.
I conclude with John Paul II's words to young people for the 2003 World Youth Day: My dear young people, you are more or less the same age as John and you have the same desire to be with Jesus. Today, it is you whom Jesus expressly asks to receive Mary "into your home" and to welcome her "as one of yours"; to learn from her, the one who "kept all these things, pondering them in her heart" (Lk: 2.19), that inner disposition to listen and the attitude of humility and generosity that singled her out as God's first collaborator in the work of salvation. |
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