APRIL 7, 2011
DAILY PRAYER WITH REGNUM CHRISTI
GOD'S TESTIMONY
April 7, 2011
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
John 5:31-47
Jesus said to the Jews: "If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony
cannot be verified. But there is another who testifies on my behalf,
and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true. You sent
emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth. I do not accept
testimony from a human being, but I say this so that you may be
saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were
content to rejoice in his light. But I have testimony greater than
John's. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works
that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.
Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you
have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have
his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom
he has sent. You search the Scriptures, because you think you have
eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do
not want to come to me to have life. I do not accept human praise;
moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I came
in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me; yet if another
comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe, when
you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that
comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you before
the Father: the one who will accuse you is Moses, in whom you have
placed your hope. For if you had believed Moses, you would have
believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his
writings, how will you believe my words?"
Introductory Prayer: Jesus, the gift of faith permits me to soar
higher. I believe in you! I lend myself to this intricate duty of
faith, and with a hopeful trust, I leap toward your infinite love. I
love you, Lord. I have come to spend this time with you just because
I want to be with you.
Petition: Lord, help me to live with purity of intention.
1. Seeking Human Praise Jesus said, "I do not accept human praise."
Why? His Father deserves all the credit for anything that exists
because, after all, he created everything. Knowing and accepting this
is indeed a quick path to holiness. Jesus is God, but he leaves us a
splendid example of how man should search for God's glory and not his
own. When we look for our own "fan club," we are really stripping
God of the glory that he alone deserves. When we seek praise from men
and work hard to be accepted by them, we are standing before a
guillotine that severs a head from its body. However, by purifying
our intentions and glorifying God alone through all our actions and
thoughts, eternal life is merited for us and for many souls.
2. The Proper Motives for Our Deeds Self-seeking doesn't work.
True, selfless love does. There are some advantages to living a life
that seeks only God's glory. The benefit achieved is order. We learn
to maintain the proper hierarchy in our values and to keep things in
their place. When parents need to punish a wayward child, their
question is: "Are we punishing him because he has done something
wrong and needs to be taught a lesson?" Or do they allow their anger
to get the best of them, and the punishment then becomes a release
valve for their fury? Likewise, in our use of the material goods we
have at my disposal, do we use them out of pure love of God or only
for our comfort?
3. True Peace of Heart When children do something wrong, they
usually act nervously when their wrongdoing is uncovered. However,
when they are mistakenly blamed, they show a convincing innocence,
and the accuser retracts in time to avoid harm. The same could be
said about purity of intention. If a soul labors only for God's
glory, then a certain guarantee of fulfillment necessarily
accompanies his destiny. No matter how many obstacles and
misunderstandings might besiege him, the soul who follows God's will
enjoys peace.
Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, you teach me in the Gospel to
add a supernatural dimension to all my enterprises and efforts. This
mortal existence on earth is a mere drop in the ocean compared to
eternity that will quickly engulf me. Help me to do all for your
greater glory.
Resolution: In my conversations today, I will not brag about
myself. I will try to focus the conversation on the interests of
others.
meditation.regnumchristi.org

April 7 Saint of the Day: St. John Baptist de la Salle (1651-1719) www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx Complete dedication to what he saw as God's will for him dominated the life of John Baptist de la Salle. In 1950, Pope Pius XII named him patron of schoolteachers for his efforts in upgrading school instruction. As a young seventeenth-century Frenchman, John had everything going for him: scholarly bent, good looks, noble family background, money, refined upbringing. At the early age of 11, he received the tonsure and started preparation for the priesthood, to which he was ordained at 27. He seemed assured then of a life of dignified ease and a high position in the Church. But God had other plans for John, which were gradually revealed to him in the next several years. During a chance meeting with M. Nyel of Raven, he became interested in the creation of schools for poor boys in Raven, where he was stationed. Though the work was extremely distasteful to him at first, he became more involved in working with the deprived youths. Once convinced that this was his divinely appointed mission, John threw himself wholeheartedly into the work, left home and family, abandoned his position as canon at Rheims, gave away his fortune and reduced himself to the level of the poor to whom he devoted his entire life. The remainder of his life was closely entwined with the community of religious men he founded, the Brothers of the Christian School (Christian Brothers, or De La Salle Brothers). This community grew rapidly and was successful in educating boys of poor families using methods designed by John, preparing teachers in the first training college for teachers and also setting up homes and schools for young delinquents of wealthy families. The motivating element in all these endeavors was the desire to become a good Christian. Yet even in his success, John did not escape experiencing many trials: heartrending disappointment and defections among his disciples, bitter opposition from the secular schoolmasters who resented his new and fruitful methods, and persistent opposition from the Jansenists of his time, whose moral regidity and pessimism abut the human condition John resisted vehemently all his life. Afflicted with asthma and rheumatism in his last years, he died on Good Friday at 68 and was canonized in 1900. Comment: Complete dedication to one's calling by God, whatever it may be, is a rare quality. Jesus asks us to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30b, emphasis added). Paul gives similar advice: "Whatever you do, do from the heart..." (Colossians 3:23). Quote: "What is nobler than to mold the character of the young? I consider that he who knows how to form the youthful mind is truly greater than all painters, sculptors and all others of that sort" (St. John Chrysostom). Patron Saint of: Teachers

Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle or John Baptist de La Salle (30 April 1651 – 7 April 1719) was a priest, educational reformer, and founder of Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. He is a saint of the Roman Catholic church, and the patron saint of teachers. He dedicated much of his life for the education of poor children of France, and in doing so, started many lasting educational practices in France. Many other people today follow in the path of education created by Saint John Baptiste de La Salle. He is considered the founder of the first Catholic schools. LifeBorn in Reims, France, John-Baptiste de La Salle received the tonsure at age eleven and was named canon of Rheims Cathedral when he was sixteen. Though he had to assume the administration of family affairs after his parents died, he completed his theological studies and was ordained to the priesthood at the age of 26 on April 9, 1678. Two years later he received a Doctorate in Theology. De La Salle became involved in education little by little, without ever consciously setting out to do so. In 1679, what began as a charitable effort to help Adrian Nyel establish a school for the poor in De La Salle's home town gradually became his life's work. He thereby began a new order, the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, also known as the De La Salle Brothers (in the U.K., Ireland, Malta, Australasia and Asia) or, most commonly in the United States, the Christian Brothers. They are sometimes confused with a different congregation of the same name founded by Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice in Ireland, who are known in the U.S. as the Irish Christian Brothers. In his own words, one decision led to another until he found himself doing something that he had never anticipated. De La Salle wrote: “ I had imagined that the care which I assumed of the schools and the masters would amount only to a marginal involvement committing me to no more than providing for the subsistence of the masters and assuring that they acquitted themselves of their tasks with piety and devotedness ... Indeed, if I had ever thought that the care I was taking of the schoolmasters out of pure charity would ever have made it my duty to live with them, I would have dropped the whole project. ... God, who guides all things with wisdom and serenity, whose way it is not to force the inclinations of persons, willed to commit me entirely to the development of the schools. He did this in an imperceptible way and over a long period of time so that one commitment led to another in a way that I did not foresee in the beginning. ” Statue in Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle church, ParisAt that time, most children had little hope for the future. Moved by the plight of the poor who seemed so "far from salvation" either in this world or the next, he determined to put his own talents and advanced education at the service of the children "often left to themselves and badly brought up." To be more effective, he abandoned his family home, moved in with the teachers, renounced his position as Canon and his wealth (worth approximately $500,000 today)[1], and so formed a new community of lay religious teachers. The De La Salle Brothers were the first Roman Catholic religious teaching order that didn't include any priests. His enterprise met opposition from the ecclesiastical authorities who resisted the creation of a new form of religious life, a community of consecrated laymen to conduct free schools "together and by association." The educational establishment resented his innovative methods and his insistence on gratuity for all, regardless of whether they could afford to pay. Nevertheless, De La Salle and his Brothers succeeded in creating a network of quality schools throughout France that featured instruction in the vernacular, students grouped according to ability and achievement, integration of religious instruction with secular subjects, well-prepared teachers with a sense of vocation and mission, and the involvement of parents. De La Salle was a pioneer in programs for training lay teachers. In 1685, he founded what is generally considered the first normal school — that is, a school whose purpose is to train teachers — in Rheims, France. He was a pedagogical thinker of note and is among the founders of a distinctively modern pedagogy. His educational innovations include Sunday courses for working young men, one of the first institutions in France for the care of delinquents, technical schools, and, secondary schools for modern languages, arts, and sciences. Worn out by austerities and exhausting labors, he died at Saint Yon near Rouen early in 1719 on Good Friday, only weeks before his 68th birthday. De La Salle’s work quickly spread through France and, after his death, continued to spread across the globe. He was canonized by Pope Leo XIII on May 24, 1900 and was inserted in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1904. Because of his life and inspirational writings, he was proclaimed as the Patron Saint of Teachers on May 15, 1950, by Pope Pius XII. Since 1970, his feast is celebrated in the Catholic Church calendar on April 7, but at La Sallian institutions, and in communities that follow a pre-1970 (but post 1904) calendar, on May 15. Currently, about 6,000 Brothers and 75,000 lay and religious colleagues worldwide serve as teachers, counselors and guides to 900,000 students in over 1,000 educational institutions in 84 countries. There is a street named after La Salle in Bangkok, Thailand: Soi Sukhumvit 105. It got this name due to a La Salle school on this street. As well as the street in Thailand, there is a street in St. Louis, Missouri, US, named De La Salle Avenue named after the saint due to its nearness to another Christian Brothers School. There is also a street, La Salle Road, in Hong Kong named after La Salle due to the two La Salle schools on the same street. [edit] See also Relics of John Baptist de La Salle in the Casa Generaliza in Rome, ItalyInstitute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools List of La Sallian educational institutions [edit] References1.^ Article on John Baptist de La Salle [edit] External linksDe La Salle Christian Brothers worldwide official website The Vocation of the Brothers United States & Canada Compendium of Lasallian Resources "St._John_Baptist_de_la_Salle". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. Complete works of St John Baptist de La Salle PDF format Founder Statue in St Peter's Basilica en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_de_La_Salle