Day by Day with St. John Baptist de La Salle

April 1st

Good Conversations

The good effects that the conversation of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus produced in them were, first of all, that Jesus Christ joined them. This is also a benefit we derive from good conversations, to have Jesus present with us by faith.

In the second place, their hearts were filled with ardour for doing good and on fire with the love of God. When we have been speaking this way in recreation, we leave it filled with enthusiasm and eager to do good.

Thirdly, Jesus Christ was so pleased by the disciples’ conversation that he went with them to the place where they stopped and remained there with them. In the same way Jesus will be glad to be with you when you take pleasure in speaking of him.

In the fourth place, finally, Jesus gave them his sacred body and they recognised him. A like happiness will be yours when you willingly converse on holy topics.

(Meditations for Sunday and Feasts
-Easter Monday)

They will speak of the glory of your royal power, and tell of your might.
(Ps 145:11)

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April 2nd

St. Francis of Paola(1416-1507)

Love Conquers All

This saint had a very tender love for all his brothers and greatly encouraged them to practise this virtue because he wished charity to be the characteristic of his order. He knew how to practise this very well himself, for he served his brothers at table and washed their feet, including even the novices.

Outside of obedience, the virtue which should stand out most in community is charity and union of hearts. What should incite us most to achieve this is that, as St. John says,

“those who live in love live in God and God lives in them.”

·Do you make yourself one with your Brothers?

·Do you speak to them and treat them with love?

·Do you not pay too much attention to your dislikes and antipathies?

Deepen within yourself the spirit that in community you should live anew the spirit of the first Christians, who were all of one heart and one soul.

(Meditations for Sundays and Feasts)

Dear friends, let us love one another because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. (1 Jn 4:7)

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April 3rd

Interior Peace

One of the principal signs that a person is leading a new life, and is risen with Jesus Christ, is when the person enjoys interior peace.

There are many persons who seem to be spiritual and to possess interior peace, but who really lack it. We might say of them what Jeremiah says, that they desire peace yet peace does not exist in them. Such persons appear to be the most pious and devoted; they speak very eloquently and most willingly about interior things. They often experience the presence of God in prayer. But just

·say a sharp word to them or

·do something to irritate them and

·immediately they are quite upset.

They lose their peace because they are not solidly grounded in virtue and have not worked hard enough to get rid of their natural impulses.

Are you one of these persons? You have to give yourself more resolutely and more truly to God.

(Meditations for Sundays and Feasts

-Easter Tuesday)

Peace be with you. (Lk 24:36)

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April 4th

Rewards

Well Done!

From time to time, the teachers will give rewards to those of their students who are the most exact in fulfilling their duties. This is done in order to inspire them to fulfill their duties with pleasure and to stimulate other students by the hope of reward to fulfill their duties.

There are three kinds of rewards which will be given in the schools:
(1) rewards for piety;
(2) rewards for ability; and
(3) rewards for assiduity!

The rewards for piety will always be more beautiful then the other rewards.
(Conduct of Schools)

An athlete who runs in a race cannot win the prize unless he obeys the rules.
(2 Tim 2:5)

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April 5th

Leadership Qualities

It is necessary, says Jesus Christ, that the sheep know their shepherd in order to be able to follow them. Two qualities are needed by those who lead others.

The first is a high level of virtue in order to be models for others who would not fail to go astray following their guides, if the guides themselves did not walk in the right way.

The second is a great tenderness must be shown by them for those entrusted to their care. They must be very alert to whatever can harm or wound their sheep. This is what leads the sheep to love their shepherds and to delight in their company, for there they find their rest and comfort.

Do you wish your disciples to do what is right? Do it yourself. You will persuade them much more readily through your example of wise and prudent behaviour than through all the words you could speak to them.

(Meditations for Sundays and Feasts)

I will lead my blind people by roads they have never travelled; I will turn their darkness into light and make rough country smooth before them. (Is 42:16)

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April 6th

Beginners - Slowly On

Take, for instance, a person who comes from the world or who while living in it still, wishes to make mental prayer. Up to now, this person has almost totally concentrated on satisfying the mind and the senses, and does not know the act of conversing with God nor of thinking interiorly of Him and of His presence.

What minds pass suddenly from consideration of material concerns to those that are purely spiritual? This would only succeed in making mental prayer tedious and in disgusting them, perhaps permanently, with the spiritual life.

It is much more appropriate to insinuate spiritual things imperceptibly into the mind of those who wish to begin to give themselves to God and to mental prayer by means of material images, clothed and animated by motives of faith.

These kinds of persons must ordinarily use
reasoning and
frequent reflections,
most of which are to be
tender and
affective,
in order to procure for themselves application to the presence of God.
(Mental Prayer)

Whoever does not have the Spirit cannot receive the gifts that come from God’s Spirit. (1 Cor 2:14)

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April 7th

God Became Man

Each mystery, has a spirit which is special to it.

The spirit of the mystery of the Incarnation, for example, is charity, since it is through charity and love for us that the eternal Father has given us his only Son, that the Son himself has become incarnate, and that the Holy Spirit has brought about this mystery.

It is also humility, for according to St. Paul, the Son of God humbled Himself by taking the form of a slave.

The Spirit of the mystery of the Birth of Our Lord is the spirit of childhood. The Son of God having come into this world, as St. John says, has given to all who have received him, the power of becoming children of God.

The spirit of childhood consists in
simplicity,
docility, and
purity
and in having no regard for worldly riches and honours.

(Mental Prayer)

He is the key that opens all the hidden treasures of God’s wisdom and knowledge. (Col 2:3)

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April 8th

Live for the Lord

At the sight of Jesus Christ and of his wounds, Saint Thomas cannot keep from crying out: My Lord and my God! because up to then he saw Jesus Christ only with eyes blinded by the darkness of doubt. He was not able to perceive the divinity veiled beneath the shadows of human nature. But now, thanks to the light of faith, he sees all that is divine in Our Lord.

In this way a soul is filled with views of faith and so raised up into the life of God that it no longer

·understands things apart from God,

·values everything in terms of God and

·finds no joy except in God.

This was how St. Francis felt when, enlightened by faith and filled with love for God, he kept saying all his life, “My God and my all!”

Do you feel that you have this disposition? Pray to the risen Christ to give it to you.

(Meditations for Sundays and Feasts
1st Sunday After Easter)

If we live, it is for the Lord that we live, and if we die, it is for the Lord that we die. (Rom 14:8)

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April 9th

Prepare to be Tempted

Have you always thought that in order to give yourself to God you must be prepared to be tempted? Are you not upset when some temptation comes to you?

What should induce a soul truly given to God to be always ready to meet temptation, is what Job says:

“man’s life is a temptation, ”

or, according to the Vulgate,

“a constant warfare.”

This led St. Jerome to say that it is impossible for our soul to escape temptation in this life; that if Jesus Christ himself was tempted, no one can hope to cross the stormy sea of this life without being exercised by temptation.

Have you been expecting to do battle constantly with the demon and against yourself? Do you have what you need to resist the demon and not give yourself over to the pleasures of the senses?

Be convinced that it is a great misfortune not to experience any temptation, because this is a sign that you do not overcome yourself in any way.
(Meditations for Sundays and Feasts)

But God keeps his promise, and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm. (1 Cor 10:13)

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April 10th

Our Conversations

One of the first things to be done by those who wish to lead a new life is to regulate their conversations properly, making them holy and pleasing to God.

Ordinarily, it is in our talk that we commit most of our faults and the most serious ones. It follows that our conversation is one of the things we need to watch over the most, so that it may not become harmful.

For this we cannot do better than model our conversations on the one Jesus Christ had with his two disciples who were on their way to Emmaus, and also the ones which the two disciples had with each other before Jesus joined them, and after he had left them.

·In your conversations and recreations are you careful to take Jesus Christ for your model?

·On leaving them are you all on fire with divine love, as the two disciples who were travelling to Emmaus?

·Are their topics of conversation the same as yours?

That is how you will benefit from moments of recreation, to relax from your work and restore your energy.
(Meditations for Sundays and Feasts)

What are you talking about to each other, as you walk along? (Lk 24:17)

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April 11th

Really Generous

Charity is generous; this is the third quality attributed to charity by St. Paul. It was also by this quality of generosity that the Samaritan of the Gospel showed the goodness of his heart.

Admire the great charity of this good Samaritan. He was a foreigner among the Jews; people from his country were considered as schismatics by the Jews, and they hated each other. Still, this Samaritan did everything he could for the unfortunate traveller, whom a priest and a Levite, both Jews, had not even wanted to look at. He even showed great unselfishness in his charity, for after having done all in his power for him, personally, he gave the innkeeper money to care for him, and he promised him when he came back he would pay for all that he had spent on this man.

It sometimes happens, even in communities, that we do a service for a Brother because he has done one for us; or we refuse a service, because something about the Brother irritates us, or because he has given us trouble.

·How human is such charity,

·how little Christian,

·how little does it deserve to be called generous!

(Meditations for Sundays and Feasts)

Love is not ill-mannered, or selfish, or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs. (1 Cor 13:5)

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April 12th

Too Firm

One Extreme

The following are examples of a teacher’s conduct which becomes unbearable to those in the teachers’ charge.

The teacher’s penances are too rigorous and the yoke which the teacher imposes upon the students is too heavy. This state of affairs is frequently due to lack of discretion and judgment on the part of the teacher. It often happens that students do not have enough strength of body or of mind to bear the burdens which overwhelm them.

The teacher enjoins, commands, or exacts something of the children with
words too harsh and
in a manner too domineering.
Above all the teacher’s conduct is unbearable when it arises from unrestrained impatience or anger.

The teacher is too insistent in urging upon a child some performance which the child is not disposed to do, and the teacher does not permit the child the leisure or the time to reflect.

(Conduct of Schools)

Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good (Heb 10:24)

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April 13th

Founded on Faith

God having chosen and destined St. Paul to preach the Gospel to the nations gave him such knowledge of the mysteries of Jesus Christ, that he was enabled like a good architect to lay the foundation for the building of the faith.

You must, then, look upon your work as one of the most important and most necessary services in the Church, one which has been entrusted to you by pastors, by fathers and mothers.

This means that you are called to lay the foundation for the building of the Church, when you instruct children in the mysteries accomplished by Jesus Christ when he was on earth.

For according to St. Paul, “without faith it is impossible to please God,” because faith is the foundation of the hope that we have. The knowledge, then, that each must have of the faith, the instruction that must be given concerning the faith to those who are ignorant of it, is one of the most important things in our religion.

Bring all the care needed, then, to fulfill this function with as much zeal and success as the saints have had fulfilling it.
(Meditations for Time of Retreat)

But how can they call to him for help if they have not believed? And how can they believe if they have not heard the message? (Rom 10:14)

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April 14th

We Are Unique

Jesus Christ compares those who have charge of souls to a good shepherd who has great care for the sheep. One quality he must possess is to know each one of them individually. This should be one of the main concerns of those who instruct others: to be able to understand their pupils and to discern the right way to guide them.

They must show more mildness toward some, more firmness toward others. There are those who call for much patience, those who need to be stimulated and spurred on. Some need to be reproved to correct them of their faults while others must be constantly watched over to prevent them from being lost or going astray.

This guidance requires
understanding and
discernment of spirits,
qualities you should frequently and earnestly ask of God. They are most necessary for you in the guidance of those placed in your care.

(Meditations for Sundays and Feasts

-2nd Sunday after Easter)

As the Father knows me and I know the Father, in the same way I know my sheep and they know me. (Jn 10:14)

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April 15th

Serious Pray-ers

It is quite otherwise however, with those who have applied themselves for a long time to mental prayer and who find it easy to place themselves in the presence of God in an interior manner. As a rule, they simply
collect themselves interiorly,
direct their thoughts to the presence of God,

and very quickly find themselves fixed and concentrated in mind without it wandering all the time.

But it is necessary that a soul which wishes without delay to follow this road, should take great care to watch over itself in order to free itself from all attachments, even natural ones. God grants this grace only to souls which are very pure, or which He Himself wishes to purify in this way, thanks to His special favour.
(Mental Prayer)

I pray to you, O God, because you answer me:
so turn to me and listen to my words.
(Ps 17:6)

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April 16th

Tell the Truth

Decorum requires that as a Christian you should never utter a single word

·which is contrary to the truth or to sincerity, or

·which shows disrespect for God or

·a lack of charity for your neighbour.

Refinement insists that you never say anything false. On the contrary, it exacts that each one should speak the truth to his neighbour (Eph 5). According to the Wise Man, refinement regards falsehood as a shameful flaw and the life of a liar as a life deprived of honour and always threatened by embarrassment (Eccl 20:26).

You might say that even if you fall into no other vice, frequent lying is enough to push you quickly into a vicious life. Jesus Christ explains why this is so when he tells us that the devil himself is the father of lies.

(Christian Politeness)

When he tells a lie, he is only doing what is natural to him, because he is a liar and the father of all lies. (Jn 8:44)

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April 17th

Hard Going

It is not enough to think about going to God as perfectly as possible. You must actually do so and this you can ably do to the extent that you are hard on yourself.

You will have no virtue unless you are hard on yourself, and it is not a question of merely appearing so; your virtue must be solid. It is not by
taking your ease and
seeking your comfort
that you acquire virtue.

But it seems to me you want nothing to be lacking which will give you pleasure. Well, who wouldn’t be poor under those conditions? Would not the great and powerful ones of the world give up all their riches to enjoy an advantage that would make them happier then the princes and kings of the earth?

Please remember that you did not join the Institute to enjoy every comfort and satisfaction. There is no point in loving virtue unless you love all that comes with it.

(Letters)

For if you live according to your human nature, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death your sinful actions, you will live. (Rom 8:13)

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April 18th

I Cannot Pray

If you cannot pray, tell God that you cannot and then remain at peace. He will not ask you to do the impossible. Or, say to him as the Apostles did: “Lord, teach me to pray.” Then remain humbly before him as one who is incapable of doing anything, and that will be your prayer.

Idleness is to be avoided,
but at the same time
you must not hamper yourself
with a great number of acts in prayer.
All you need and all God wants of you is that you remain in his presence.
(Letters)

Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him. (Mt 6:8)

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April 19th

Master of the Heart

You may make an act of faith by considering God reigning in us by His grace.

If I have the advantage of possessing your holy grace, I believe, O my God, and I am persuaded, that you are and that you reign in me.

Take control, therefore, of all my movements, interior and exterior, in order that I do not make myself master of a single one. It is for you, O God, to direct them all and to act in such a way that all of them are subject to your guidance.

It is proper that since

·you reign in my heart

·you should be the master of all that takes place in it.

Do not permit it, therefore, to act on its own, or by the impulse of the human spirit.
(Mental Prayer)

But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead you live as the Spirit tells you to - if, in fact, God’s Spirit lives in you. (Rom 8:9)

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April 20th

True Joy

A difference between worldlings’ joy and the joy of God’s servants is that the former is only superficial, whereas the latter is very deep. The joy of the former is only apparent: the world knows only the pomp and outward show of joy, but when God’s servants have joy, it is their hearts that rejoice.

The heart is the source of life in a person, because it is the last thing in a person to die. The joy of the just will be unshakeable and not easily subject to changes because it is founded on the love of God and union with him by prayer and the reception of the sacraments.

Your joy is genuine if you rejoice in the midst of suffering. But if you make your joy consist in sensual pleasures, how true it is that your joy is completely superficial, since it has the same nature as its object, a fragile and perishable good!

·Does your joy come from within?

·Do you not sometimes let yourself be absorbed by vain and entirely exterior joys?

(Meditations for Sundays and Feasts

-Third Sunday After Easter)

Now you are sad, but I will see you again, and your hearts will be filled with gladness, the kind of gladness that no one can take away from you. (Jn 16:22)

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April 21st

St. Anselm(1033 - 1109)

Winning Hearts

Becoming a superior, this saint endeavoured to guide his religious with so much
gentleness and
charity
that he won all their hearts. He took such tender care of a young religious who was ill, and who had found it difficult to submit to his guidance, that he moved the young man by his charity and won him over to return to his duties. Observing a certain abbot treating some young gentlemen rigorously, he told him that when you guide young people with so much rigour, you do not have any success at all instructing them.

By reason of your state you are responsible for the instruction of children. Profit from the words and wise conduct of this saint. You must consider the obligation you have to win their hearts as one of the principal means to lead them to live in a Christian manner. Often reflect that if you fail to use this means, you will drive them away from God instead of drawing them to him.

(Meditations for Sundays and Feasts)

Yes, may you come to know his love and so be completely filled with the very nature of God. (Eph 3:19)

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April 22nd

Humility - Theory and Practice

Instead of being upset when your long-standing faults are pointed out to you, you ought on the contrary to thank God for it. No matter how you are told them, Our Lord had worse said to him, and you claim to be his disciple. If you really are, you will be glad to be treated like your master, who patiently bore all the insults that were offered him. So did the saints, his servants.

Instead, what sort of humility have you if you cannot bear something that causes you a little pain? You very much like to profess
that you love humility and
that you have a great esteem for it,
just as long as you can avoid humiliations as much as possible. What good will it be for you to love the virtue and to refuse to practise it?

What! You complain that others haven’t enough charity, but you don’t complain that you haven’t enough humility. So watch over yourself and do not get upset about something that can be only for your own good.

(Letters)

“Who hit you? Guess!” And they said many other insulting things to him. (Lk 22:64)

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April 23rd

The Spirit of Zeal

You share in the ministry of the Guardian Angels by making known to children the truths of the Gospel, which you have been chosen by God to announce.

Your zeal must go so far in this that in order to achieve it, you are ready to give your very life, so dear to you are the children entrusted to you.

It is your duty, then, to admonish the unruly, and to do this in such a way that they give up their former way of life; you must rouse up those who lack courage, support the weak, and be patient toward all.

You would be deserving of blame if you did not engage them to renounce their former way of life; you must, therefore, lead them with the same zeal to renounce lying, and to speak the truth to their neighbour at all times.

You must help them

to be gentle and
to have a tenderness for one another,
mutually forgiving, as God has forgiven them in Jesus Christ.

(Meditations for Time of Retreat)

Get rid of all bitterness, passion, and anger. No more shouting or insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort. Instead, be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you in Christ. (Eph 4:31-32)

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April 24th

Gentle but Firm

A Tall Order

Experience affords us sufficient proof that, to perfect those who are committed to our care, we must act toward them in a manner at the same time both gentle and firm. Many, however, are obliged to admit, that they do not see how these two things can easily be joined in practice. If, for example, absolute authority and an overbearing attitude are assumed in dealing with children, it is likely that a teacher will find it difficult to keep this way of acting from becoming harsh and unbearable. Although this course may begin as great zeal, it is not wise, since it overlooks human weakness.

At the same time, if too much consideration is had for human weakness and if, under the pretext of showing compassion, children are allowed to do as they will, the result will be wayward, idle, and unruly students.

What, then, must be done in order that

·firmness may not degenerate into harshness and that

·gentleness may not degenerate into languor and weakness?

(Conduct of Schools)

Teach these things and use your full authority as you encourage and rebuke your hearers. (Tit 2:15)

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April 25th

St. Mark

Mark My Word

St. Mark was a disciple of St. Peter and accompanied him in the preaching of the Gospel. How fortunate this saint was to be instructed by so well-qualified a teacher. You can have the advantage of being instructed by the same teacher as St. Mark if you often read the Epistles of St. Peter and if you faithfully put into practice the holy maxims contained there.

St. Mark wrote his Gospel while living in Rome. He was urgently requested to do so by those who had been converted by St. Peter, because they desired to have in writing what the holy apostle had taught them by word of mouth.

Are you careful

·to learn thoroughly the holy maxims contained in St. Mark’s Gospel and

·to meditate on them often,

so that you may be able to inspire them in those for whom you are responsible?

(Meditations for Sundays and Feasts)

This is the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mk 1:1)

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April 26th

God is Absent

Jesus Christ told his apostles that it was better for them that he was leaving.

Those who have given themselves to God often believe that God’s sensible presence is the only thing that can confirm them in piety. They think that when they experience interior difficulty and dryness they have completely lost the degree of holiness to which God has raised them. Having lost a certain relish for prayer and a facility for praying, they imagine that they have lost everything and that God has completely rejected them. Their inner life is desolate and they suppose that all the paths leading to God are blocked before them.

Such persons should be told what Jesus Christ said to his apostles:

·that it is better for them that God withdraws from them on a feeling level, and

·that what they consider a loss is for them a real gain if they willingly endure this trial.

(Meditations for Sundays and Feasts

-4th Sunday After Easter)

Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.
(Ps 50:15)

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April 27th

God is Everywhere

You may make an act of faith on the words of Jeremiah where God says:

“Do I not fill heaven and earth.”

You are, O my God, in heaven, and you are there in all of its vastness. You are also on the earth, and you penetrate it entirely because it contains you and you yourself contain it.

I believe that wherever I go I will find you there. And that there is no place that is not honoured by your presence. For as the royal prophet very rightly says in Ps 74:

“He is neither absent from east, nor from west,
nor from the desert nor from the mountains.”

(Mental Prayer)

For God’s Spirit has filled the whole world and he who holds together all things, knows each word that is spoken. (Wis 1:7)

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April 28th

St. Peter, Martyr(1205-1252)

Strong in Faith

We cannot sufficiently admire the faith of the martyr, St. Peter, for he possessed it perfectly even from his childhood and he died in its defense.

This Saint was born of Manichean parents, yet they never could convince him by promises or threats to follow their false religion. He was only seven years old when his uncle asked him what he had learned in school, and he replied that he had learned what to believe about God, and thereupon recited the profession of faith. When his uncle rejoined that he should not believe any of this, he answered:

“I will believe it unto death; and nothing will ever prevent me from believing it!”

Is it not amazing to find such strong faith in a seven year old child? Do you have such faith, that nothing can prevent you from professing by your actions the truths and maxims of the Gospel?

(Meditations for Sundays and Feasts)

No one can please God without faith, for whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and rewards those who seek him. (Heb 11:6)

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April 29th

St. Catherine of Siena(1347-1380)

The Acid Test

St. Catherine had such a special love for purity that she made a vow of virginity when only seven years old. With time this virtue grew so strong in her that when her parents proposed a very advantageous marriage to her, she refused. This angered her parents so much that they obliged her to do all the lowliest and most difficult household chores. She was very happy about this and endured with the greatest patience all the ill-treatment that they inflicted upon her at the time. She contented herself with setting up a sort of little oratory in her heart where she withdrew to console herself with God.

If, because you are aiming to do good,
you are made to suffer insults and scorn,
would you be ready to put up with such treatment patiently?
It is on such occasions that we see if our virtue is solid.(Meditation for Sundays and Feasts)

All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death, in the hope that I myself will be raised from death to life. (1 Phil 3:10-11)

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April 30th

Teacher Evaluation

How do you do your work in school? Have you wasted time? Do you follow everything carefully during the lessons, and are you assiduous in correcting mistakes? Do you leave your place in class? Do you talk too much or to a particular pupil unnecessarily?

In school do you take care that the students progress in reading and writing, and are you equally careful to make them advance in piety?

Have you been too strict, too easy going or too familiar with your pupils? Have you been impatient? In what way, and in what frame of mind, have you administered correction?

What is your weak point in the performance of your work?

Does it consist

·in being too hasty and overeager, or

·in being listless and negligent?

(Collection)

And so I do my best always to have a clear conscience before God and human beings. (Acts 24:16)