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LASALLIAN EDUCATORS: WOMEN AND MEN OF PRAYER
David L. Hotek
Throughout the Lasallian world today there is an emphasis on creating schools that are authentically Lasallian. In many places, brothers, sisters, lay teachers, parents, former students, associates, and the students themselves are reflecting together on the meaning of Lasallian education and are working together to effect genuine renewal of their schools.
We are beginning to see throughout the mid-west, for example, Lasallian convocations, workshops, and retreats, together with efforts at building communities that are faith-filled, person-centered, committed to excellence in teaching, creative, zealous for the religious growth of the students, and concerned for the poor and for justice and peace.
What is most encouraging in this movement is the desire of many members of the Lasallian Family to participate not only in the educational mission of John Baptist de La Salle, but also in his spirituality. There is a growing realization that the Lasallian Family, united in the vision and spirit of the Founder, can be a highly effective instrument in the mission of Christian education today.
This article will be the last for the 1991-1992 school year. A great deal of growth has taken place in the Lasallian Family Movement throughout the districts of Chicago, St. Louis, St. Paul/Minneapolis and Toronto since I first wrote to you last September. I have been able to see and experience first hand the enthusiasm that many share for the life, spirit and mission of John Baptist de La Salle. This gives me much hope and speaks well for the future of the Lasallian apostolates.
As we enter into the months of summer vacation I would like to share with you some of De La Salle’s teaching on the role of prayer in the life of the educator. For De La Salle there was an inseparable link between the identity of the educator and a regular pattern of personal prayer. He insisted that his teachers spend time during the vacation period reflecting upon their ministry and renewing themselves through an annual retreat. De La Salle even composed a series of meditations to be used by these teachers during this retreat -- Meditations for the Time of Retreat. It is my hope that we all will be able to find the time this summer to reflect upon the work that we do with the young people entrusted to our care and renew ourselves through prayer so that we will find the strength to continue in this most important ministry of education.
Identity and Prayer
For De La Salle, the vocation of the Lasallian educator is to respond to the needs of the young as ministers of the Lord, as his ambassadors and co-workers. The educator is to represent Jesus Christ, making his loving and saving presence a visible and effective reality among young people. Logically, then, De La Salle can say: “Hence, since the object of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools is to educate children in the spirit of Christianity, and to endeavor to procure them that spirit, it is of the utmost importance that the Brothers (Lasallian educators) be . . . imbued . . . and abundantly filled with the Spirit of faith.” [Collection, DLS]
De La Salle’s meaning is clear: we cannot give what we do not have. The Lasallian educator must be a man or woman of faith, that is to say, a person in a living, conscious, dynamic relationship with God. It is in this context that we can understand the Founder’s insistence on the necessity of regular personal prayer. It is prayer that nurtures this close relationship with the Lord: “The principal occupation” in personal prayer is “to be filled with God and united interiorly to him.” [Explanation of the Method of Mental Prayer, DLS] We can now understand why De La Salle insisted that the teachers should have a great love for personal prayer and should look upon it as the first and principal action in their lives.
The Word of God
Closely related to a commitment to regular prayer is a love for the scriptures. De La Salle considers the scriptures the first Rule of the Brothers. “The scriptures,” he says, “must be eaten by all true servants of God, that they may subsequently be able to communicate and explain their secrets to those whom they are called upon to instruct.” [Meditations, #170, DLS]
De La Salle taught his teachers to meditate on the scriptures daily, allowing the Word of God to penetrate their minds and hearts. He taught them to move from reflection to conversation with the Lord.
For the Lasallian educator, therefore, the habit of reading and meditating upon the scriptures is of primary importance.
Personal Encounter with the Lord
Another fundamental orientation of De La Salle is that prayer is a personal encounter with the Lord at the center of our being. He doesn’t use those precise words. His language is the language of his day: “Mental prayer is an interior occupation, that is to say, an application of the soul to God. It is not only an exercise of the intellect but also brings into action all the powers of the soul. Its operations must take place in the inner recesses of the soul.” [Explanation of the Method of Mental Prayer, DLS]
Dated language, yes, but the meaning is clear. The Lasallian educator should meet the Lord daily at the center of his or her being. Prayer is more than a period of reflection on God, or on some doctrine, teaching, or idea. “The first things which we should do in mental prayer,” he says, “is to penetrate ourselves interiorly with the presence of God.” [Explanation of the Method of Mental Prayer, DLS] To make sure that the novices did not spend too much time in “thinking about” God, De La Salle insisted that they converse with the Lord. To help them sustain this conversation, he suggested they follow a set structure for praying, called “acts.”
The Founder said that beginners would normally use many words in their conversation with the Lord, but that the more experienced should use fewer words or even no words and remain for some time in an interior silence.
The heart of De La Salle’s teaching is that prayer is a period of heightened awareness of the Lord’s presence in our life. It is a time for a conscious personal encounter with the Lord in the depths of our being. At times we might want to converse with many words, and at other times with few words and more silence. There may be times when we are quite content to remain before the Lord in a loving attentive silence.
Life’s Experiences and Prayer
Let us consider one more basic orientation of De La Salle: the link between our daily experiences and our prayer. For De La Salle, prayer was never an escape from everyday realities. On the contrary, he urges his teachers to see the relationship between their prayer life and their daily service of youth. They should bring their experiences to the Lord. He tells them to intercede for those “confided to your care.” “When you encounter some difficulty in the guidance of your disciples, when there are some who do not profit from your teaching and you observe a reckless spirit in them, turn to God with confidence. Earnestly ask Jesus Christ to make his Spirit come alive in you, since he has chosen you to do his work.” [Meditations, #196, DLS]
De La Salle trained his novices to make a conscious link between their daily experiences and their prayer by concluding their reflection and conversation with the Lord with a practical daily resolution. Teachers more experienced, he advised to “leave meditation with a renewed desire to discharge your duties well.” [Explanation of the Method of Mental Prayer, DLS]
Lasallian Prayer
It is not possible in this short article to consider in depth our Founder’s teaching on prayer. What I have done is to reflect briefly on four of the most fundamental aspects of De La Salle’s understanding of prayer for the Lasallian educator. In summary, these are:
- The Lasallian educator under-stands the necessity for regular personal prayer and that this need for prayer springs from his or her identity as a minister of the Lord.
- The Lasallian educator devotes some time each day to prayerful reflection on the Word of God (scripture).
- The Lasallian educator, convinced that regular contact with Jesus Christ is necessary in order to make Him present today, makes it a personal rule to encounter the Lord in prayer on a daily basis.
- The Lasallian educator comes into the presence of God fully alive. There he or she reflects on life’s daily experiences, converses with the Lord about them, and renews his or her intention to serve God with greater fidelity.
Zeal and Prayer
“Your zeal must go so far that you are ready to give your very life, so dear to you are the children confided to your care.” [Meditations, #198, DLS]
The same De La Salle who made that remarkable statement is the same De La Salle who exhorted his teachers “to have a great love for the holy exercise of Mental Prayer.” [The Rule, DLS] He was convinced that only persons of prayer could be truly Christian and effective ministers of youth. That is why he urged his teachers to make the scriptures central to their life and to bring themselves into the presence of God daily, encountering God in the depths of their hearts.
It is my hope and prayer for you that these summer months will be a time of renewal and relaxation. Spend some time each day with the Lord and bring to God in prayer not only your needs but the needs of your students. “In order to fulfill your responsibility with as much perfection and care as God requires of you, frequently give yourself to the Spirit of our Lord to act only under his influence and not through any self-seeking. This Holy Spirit, then, will fill your students with Himself, and they will be able to possess fully the Christian spirit. . . Jesus Christ wants you to understand . . . that the more your work is energized by Him, the more it will produce good in your disciples.” [Meditations for the Time of Retreat, DLS]
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. How often do I pray? When and where am I most comfortable praying?
2. What do I need to do in order to see all things with the “eyes of faith”? Am I capable of this?
3. Do I ever share my faith with my students? In the classroom? Outside the classroom?
4. Do my students and colleagues see me as a person who believes in God? Why? Why not?
5. When was the last time that I spent some time reflecting on the Word of God (scripture)?
6. How often do I talk with God concerning my daily concerns and the concerns of my students?
7. In what ways can I bring my colleagues together for prayer or to reflect upon scripture? Is this even a good idea?
8. Prayer means to me . . .?
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