Alexandra Jaleco

11688939
2nd Year G11
Make up Lawrec – June 3, 2018

“The Life that Transformed Others’ Lives”

The Work is Yours written by Luke Salm FSC is a biography of Saint John Baptist de
La Salle. The latter’s life was recognized, documented and published by several
authors and editors for several reasons relatively around 1680. This became a
masterpiece and has been distributed and used to make known the altruistic and
selfless act of our beloved Saint John Baptiste de La Salle.

In this historical account, the three recurring themes that I will discuss are heroism,
honorability and humanity.

Humanity

Saint John Baptiste de La Salle came from an upper middle-class family and was
living as a comfortable and respected high priest yet he dedicated his life in serving
the poor through education. He showed his philanthropic and good-heartedness
through his advocacy by establishing communities and Christian schools to
accomplish his religious mission.

De La Salle believed that the world needs educated people to continue developing
and nurturing the needs of humanity. Education is of utmost importance and plays a
key element in the lives of the people of every nation. The success of an individual
and the gage of a nation's development can be measured by the level of the
individual and collective education, respectively. Education is an investment and it
may be difficult to go through but the rewards are immense as time goes by. More
so, he believed that education is one of the basic necessities of human existence and
human beings, whether they are poor or rich, must not be deprived of learning and
gaining the requisite knowledge to go on with their lives.

Honorability

Despite all the turmoil and uncertainties of the success of instituting schools, De La
Salle was willing to lose his regular income and his title to the family mansion. His
journey before creating schools was smooth sailing but he chose to leave that life
even if there was no guarantee for the future because for him, he found more value
in educating others than enriching him, which I find profoundly honorable.
Jesus called us to live an honorable life –one that is simple, decent and honest. In
Philippians 4:8, it was said that “Whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things”.

This is what De La Salle did. He meditated relentlessly to ask what God’s will for
him is and at the end, he honored God by committing himself to the community and
the teachers themselves to follow his example. He showed the public that he is
different by creating a habit which is to wear a waisted jacket with the white rabat,
as a distinguish mark to give them quasi-professional status in the schools. Because
of this habit, their existence in the community was made known to the pupils, the
parishoners and the general public of Reims. This led to the establishment of the
Brothers of Christian Schools and De La Salle is known to be the founder.

His legacy is still found until today wherein several schools have been established all
around the world, such as De La Salle University, the school that I belonged to for
more than a decade long. I am thankful for De La Salle’s life for without him, millions
of students would not have had a well-renowned education which seeks to serve the
last, the least and the lost. Because of De La Salle’s education system, I have changed
my perspective in life that my life should not be my own because it should be for
others. Life is more valuable when you choose to help alleviate the suffering of
others even in the simplest ways. I must admit that I don't think I can leave my
comfortable home to establish a school for the poor or whatever advocacy I have,
and that’s why I look up to De La Salle so much. He was selfless and he honored God
through his actions.

Heroism

What makes a man a hero? It involves someone who is willing to stand up

courageously for others. It means that you want to help the people to get out of
whatever situation they are in or to prevent them from getting in an even worse
situation.

De La Salle’s traced ancestors were found to have knights, served in armies of

various princes, wealthy members of the upper bourgeoisie, and a vicar-general of
the diocese of Vienne. He grew up in the estate of his noble family yet he chose to
leave this in order to live a life for the poor.

In 1691, he made a radical commitment to the work; he and two of his most trusted
Brothers made a secret “heroic vow,” committing themselves to the establishment of
this enterprise. He state that “…even should we remain the only three members of
the said Society, and should be obliged to beg for alms and live on bread only.” This
vow they took fifty years to the day after three of the founders of Saint Sulpice
Seminary had taken a similar vow for the establishment of that worthy institution.

Because of this heroic vow, De La Salle’s continued legacy created a bright future,
not only for the poor people of France, but also for the millions of students who will
be of service to their own families, communities and country. Many new schools
have opened and were catered to different social status in all parts of the world.
This atmosphere of support, of expansion, of great plans for the future became
widespread and influenced students, teachers and the general public.

At the time of his death, De La Salle first wished to give all of his soul to God then to
all the Brothers of the Society of the Christian schools with whom he was united. He
urged the Brothers their entire submission to the Church, especially in evil times.
At the present time, the Lasallian brothers are still committed to education and
excellence, which De La Salle had wished them to do so.

Truly, the life of Saint John Baptiste De La Salle has transformed the lives not only of
the poor children in France during his time but also all the students of De La Salle
schools. It molded the lives of students to become Christ-centered and to be devoted
to the last, the lost and the least.

Starting today, I will truly live up to the Lasallian excellence for God and country.