Touching Hearts: Mentoring In Lasallian Spirituality
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Date
2003
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
As early as in the seventh century A.D., Dorotheos stated: "No man is more
unfortunate or nearer perdition than those who have no teachers on the way to God."'
Mediation, spiritual direction, accompaniment, mentoring... are all synonyms for the art
of going hand-in-hand with others during their life journey to help them. see more
clearly the path to God.
Saint John Baptist de La Salle, the founder of the Brothers of the Christian
Schools, was a dedicated spiritual mentor who had been influenced by the contemporary
spiritualities. As a guide for his Brothers, he adopted a unique style of mentoring that
has become a significant part of Lasallian spirituality. As the founder of an institute of
lay Brothers devoted to the Christian education of children and the young, he also
formulated how the Brothers as mentors were and are to approach their pupils. Almost
three centuries after his death, Brothers and Lasallian partners try to be faithful to De La
Salle's inspiration to be "ministers and ambassadors of Jesus Christ" for young people,
especially among the poor. The aim of this essay is to define the principles that John Baptist de La Salle
used to mentor his Brothers in the various aspects of their lives and in their ministry, as
well as the principles he proposed to mentor students. What has motivated me to write
about this topic? I am strongly convinced that in the midst of the rapid changes in our
society, religious life, and the Church, good mentors are required to guide others in their
search for the knowledge of the truth coming from Christ as the means to discover their
own identity. In addition, the Brothers of the Christian Schools, as lay religious
educators, have numerous potentialities to respond to the always-urgent need to be
models, guides, and mentors for present and future Brothers, as well as for the students
who will be entrusted to their care.
While the Brothers are the heart and memory of the Institute, thousands of lay
Lasallian partners are called today and tomorrow to share the charism and mission of
De La Salle. The limitation of pages has forced me to focus exclusively on the Brothers,
though virtually all that is presented here can be applied to our lay Lasallian partners as
well. Further research upon the specificity of the Lasallian mentoring for and from lay
partners would be tremendously useful and complementary to this paper.
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Keywords
Mentoring, Spirituality