Sunday 19-Monday 20
 Night had already arrived on the 19th October when our bus set out with Paris as our destination. The feeling of happiness produced by the beatification of Mother Teresa of Calcutta at which we had assisted in the presence of so many others was still with us all. On the morning of that Sunday in Rome, the faithful from around the world had been giving thanks to God for the gift of a saint at once so human and so exceptional. We were beginning a pilgrimage "In the footsteps of the Founder". The group, numbering 39 District formators, was looking ahead to places to be visited and a program of events, after several days given over to deepening our knowledge of the life and work of De La Salle thanks to presentations and discussions with Bro. Jean Louis Schneider.
It entailed coming close to De La Salle through the color and aroma of the land, through landscapes and buildings, through peoples' customs, of attempting to relive that period like another yet real journey.
The act of meeting up with the sources, the origins, of our congregation would thus allow us to give some life to the theoretical grasp that we had acquired of the Founder, and attempt to set up an opportunity to provoke a shift from head to heart.
Many hours were to pass before we arrived in Paris at 6 on Monday evening. However opportunities were there for sharing and enjoyment, including even snow that we encountered as we passed through the Alps.
Tuesday 21
We made a start by getting to know the places close to the Rue de Sèvres: the location of the Novitiate of Vaugirard and the Church of St John Baptist de La Salle. All was hurried because we were aiming to get to the church of Notre Dame des Vertus in Aubervilliers, a place of historic pilgrimages including those of De La Salle and his Brothers.
In the afternoon we sought with the help of a street-plan of Paris the sites of the first schools of De la Salle. For some of these nothing remained but a plaque or even less. However in all of them we could find some hint of the heroic deeds of the first Brothers. Special and emotional moments in the Carmelite monastery (the place of martyrdom of Brother Solomon) and in the Church of St Sulpice where we could evoke the long periods of prayer of our Founder.
Wednesday 22
 An early start for Rouen. They were waiting for us in the St John Baptist de La Salle College. The kids playing in the yard brought us close to our ordinary daily work (we'd almost forgotten!). We visited the main places, St Sever and especially St Yon.
Thursday 23
We had the first part of the morning for a quick visit of Paris. It rained so we couldn't do anything. As an alternative we had a meeting with the Brother Visitor of France with questions and answers on the present situation and about the future. This is awaited in hope because God will not abandon his work and will always support the best available hands. We have to seek them out! Throughout the pilgrimage we were met with the ever pleasant and requested presence of the Visitors of each zone.
After the midday meal we set off for Rheims. A very moving Mass in the Cathedral. And all the time reflecting about the prayers and the devotion that the young De La Salle brought to his singing as Canon in the choir stalls.
Friday 24
All Lasallian Rheims. Mass in the house of the Sisters of the Child Jesus. The figure of N. Roland. The providential meeting with Nyel. The first schools. Avenir-Jeunes, a work which the Brothers are presently running for the young unemployed or marginalized. We got as far as the Brother Arnold museum.
It was impressive just being in Rheims (the visit to Hotel De La Salle, the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Rheims, the altar where De La Salle celebrated his first Mass). It's the nearness to the lived experience of the Founder. Seeing the Founder as a man on a journey, who doesn't know where it will end but knows that he holds a God compass: mental prayer, reflection, spiritual directors, Brothers and so on.
At the same time thinking about the things De La Salle gave up, that he had almost everything in this world. Thinking that bit by bit he came to be an austere person in his personal living and in our communities.
Saturday 25
 An indelible souvenir. We sought to reproduce, yes us, that pilgrimage the Brothers made to Our Lady of Liesse, and to renew our vows there. We could walk only part of the way but the emotion aroused by the walk remains with us. We had time for contemplation, encountering, prayer, conversion - as on every good pilgrimage. In our exchanges we emphasized the importance that the presence of Mary held in the journey of De La Salle: prayers, recommendations he left us, pilgrimages he undertook with the Brothers. 
In the afternoon and following the visit to Laon we arrived at Brouillet and were able to enjoy a glass of champagne produced in fields that very likely belonged to De La Salle's grandfather. In such circumstances even the abstemious tried the bubbly.
Mass in a church of Rheims and with Mass an encounter with another way of doing the liturgy, that of French churches. Dignity, participation, simplicity, welcoming. Recovery of a spirituality of encounter, of speaking about Someone and with Someone.
Sunday 26
The whole day en route to get to Parmenie. It amounted to a new experience: that of the fields of France, green with sown fields and never-ending woods.
The house received us with its silence and peace, with unhurried liturgy and our retreat, with rain, mountains and cold.
And now after having crossed France in our comings and goings we were impressed when we calculated the great distances that De La Salle covered in order to get from one place to another. His motivation was always the same: dedication to the work and interest in his Brothers.
Monday 27
Visit to Grenoble. Streets and schools. Those laneways which saw a De La Salle in need of help and who found in the enthusiastic welcome of the Brothers' Community, the peace and quiet he so badly needed in a difficult time in his life.
Tuesday 28
Another unforgettable place. We spent the day at the Grande Chartreuse. As once De La Salle did, we too entered into this place of silence and encounter with nature and with God. The sun smiled down on us and chased away the severe cold that we experienced in the north of France. When we see the trust that De La Salle showed towards his spiritual directors we can know the need to open ourselves to a "someone" to accompany us on our journey.
Wednesday 29
 Retreat day at Parmenie. The day started out rainy. But no matter. De La Salle was there with us in our silence and prayer. It didn't require much imagination to see him present in the landscape and the buildings. It was even possible to see him together with Sister Louise contemplating the Alps and engaging in conversation about the work that De La Salle was undertaking and which was giving him so many headaches.
 It was easy to recall there the importance that De La Salle placed on solitude in crucial moments of life. Solitude not for running away but for encountering God.
And then the arrival of a letter from the principal Brothers of Paris requiring the presence of a Father for a work which he could not abandon, from sons who were at least missing him. That letter from the Brothers of Paris which speaks to us of the power of Community. It is the Community which calls, which shows concern for De La Salle, which ultimately saves the work and helps De La Salle though a situation difficult for him and for everybody.
Thursday 30
Once again in Rome after many hours of travel. During the journey back we mulled over the recent events and reflected on them. Having personally come into contact with the reality of De La Salle's choices, and left aside through these personal experience the images which we had formed of our Founder, often presented as a cold man, we could make space for an image of a human man sensitive to the language in which God was addressing him in order to decipher the reality of his lived experience. A man close to his Brothers. Who suffered and had a hard time of it. Who did not see very clearly the will of God, not even at the end of his life.
 The discovery of the person of Sister Louise. She who accompanied the prayerful reflection of De La Salle and encouraged him to take courageous and binding decisions.
The courageous situation of the Brothers of Paris, who did not slacken when they saw themselves without De La Salle and decided to confront by themselves the obligation to get the work back on its feet. And then the call to De La Salle, that he not leave them because he too was involved. There is also a letter directed to each one of us. We leave it open. It enables us to open ourselves up to authenticity and to simplicity.
It remains to make a reading from the Founder's experience of many of the activities in which each of us is involved. The concern to go out and confront today's needs. Are there other educational needs which are awaiting us? Is it possible to think of new projects?
We were delighted, we offered our thanks to one another (and to the organizers especially) for the atmosphere of tranquility and fraternity which we experienced. |
CIL Pilgrimage to France
lasallew@lasalle.org