Read Pope Francis’ exhortations

As we prepare for the observance of Holy Week just seven days away, may I suggest that reading the Apostolic Exhortation Evangeli Gaudium of Pope Francis would be a very interesting and even controversial reading.

Bring it with you and while sitting in your car for hours or lying on the beach or in between trekking or diving, just read excerpts from it. There are 288 paragraphs but it is divided into topics so you can actually just choose specific topics.

Some of the more interesting topics to me are: “No to the new idolatry of money”; “No to a financial system which rules rather than serves”; “ and “ No to the inequality which spawns violence.”

 Pope Francis mixes economics and Catholic social teachings. He says: “The current financial crisis can make us overlook the fact that it originated in a profound human crisis: the denial of the primacy of the human person! We have created new idols. The worship of the ancient golden calf has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose. The worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances and above all, their lack of real concern for human beings; man is reduced to one of his needs alone: consumption.”

The Exhortations covers topics of interest to different groups. He talks of the rejection of Ethics in the business and political worlds. He speaks of the proliferation of new religious movements which tend to fundamentalism and “exploits the weaknesses of people living in poverty and on the fringes of society.”

He speaks of the family experiencing a profound cultural crisis, the evils of human trafficking, and the cynicism of media. He has advice for the pastoral workers, bishops priests, brothers and nuns, who are constantly facing temptations. He talks of income inequality and the need to resolve the “structural causes of poverty.” He points to our world torn apart by wars and violence and the re-emergence of conflicts and old divisions from the past. He condemns capitalism but says realities are greater than ideas. He has paragraphs for the youth, women, intellectuals, serious journalists, lay people and non-Christians.

Read the Exhortations of Pope Francis and you will find at least one paragraph that will provide you the guidance and inspiration to live the life you have been seeking.

Feast of St. John Baptist de La Salle

Last Monday, April 7 was the  feast day of St. John Baptist de La Salle, Patron Saint of Christian teachers and  founder of a congregation of teaching Brothers known officially as the Brothers of the Christian Schools. In the Philippines, this order is more popularly known as the La Salle Brothers.

He was born in Rheims. France in April 30, 1651 and died on April 7, 1719. He was canonized May 24, 1900 and proclaimed by the Catholic Church as Patron Saint of Christian Teachers on May 15, 1950.

St. John Baptist de La Salle was a pioneer in founding training colleges for teachers, reform schools for delinquents, technical schools and secondary schools for modern languages, arts and sciences and invented the modern classroom style of education.

Because of his life and his writings he was made Patron Saint for all those who work in the field of education. After 300 years, he continues to inspire others how to teach and care for young people.

De La Salle saw that for the schools to truly succeed, they needed committed people who were willing to give their lives to the work of education for life. The Brothers were to be ministers, not of the Sacraments but of the Word through their teaching of the catechism and through their literacy work in schools. It was in 1689 that the first Brothers made their promises, the forerunners of the vows the Brothers make today.

At the present time there are La Salle schools in 80 different countries around the world. In the Philippines, the La Sallian institutions continue to strive to fulfil its mission of giving as many young people, from all sectors of society, the opportunity for a La Sallian education.

The first La Salle school, in the Philippines, was founded in 1911.Today De La Salle University is considered as among the best institution of higher learning in Asia. The University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City and DLSU-Lipa are the leading university in their respective regions. DLSU – Dasmarinas and College of St. Benilde are innovators in different areas of tertiary education. There are now La Salle schools in Caloocan, Iligan, Ozamis, Antipolo and Surigao.

In the primary and secondary education, the Brothers have fulfilled their mission of offering a La Sallian education to all sectors of society. Schools like La Salle-Greenhills, La Salle-Zobel and La Salle-Bacolod are among the nation’s best. But, unlike most other religious orders, La Salle has schools that offer quality education for the poor. This includes schools like La Salle-St. Joseph in Bacolod, Br Jaime Hilario in Bataan, the Adult Night School in La Salle-Greenhills and other La Salle managed schools. Then there is “Balay Pag-Asa” a reformatory school for juvenile delinquents in Negros Occidental. Hopefully, another one will be set up in the MetroManila area.

In 1996, Br Andrew Gonzales FSC, former DLSU president, before he passed away said that while De La Salle University puts the liberal arts and the classics of the East and the West on a pedestal and proposes them as the foundation of a sound liberal education, it nevertheless balances them with an   orientation in modern life: accountancy, entrepreneurship, management, engineering, computer science, basic sciences.

The abiding desire of every La Sallian should be that the La Sallian heritage of an excellent and Christian education be accessible to as many Filipino as desire it.

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