"Qui ad justitiam erudiunt multos, quasi stellae in perpetuas aeternitate."

"The learned will shine as brightly as the vault of heaven, and those who have instructed many in virtue, as bright as stars for all eternity". Thus the verse of the Bible, a passage from the Book of Wisdom, which has come to be applied to those who have undertaken the continuing task of educating ever-recurring new generations of children and young people in the knowledge of what is true and just before God, and profitable to humanity, helping them in this way to desire and know how to put such knowledge into practice in their lives. To you, Brothers of the Christian Schools, belongs this reward, symbolised by the star that shines forth from the standard of your Congregation, this reflection of the light of sanctity which surrounds your Father and Founder, Saint John Baptist de La Salle. Filled with the spirit of intelligence, he - like the "just man" of whom Ben Sira writes - uttered words of wisdom and by his life rendered praise to the Lord. The sacred doctrine which his spiritual writings manifest, and his pedagogical prowess, continue by means of yourselves, to shine forth and to bear fruit in the community of the church, in the schools, and then in the lives of so many young people and adults formed by you in the different regions of the world.

I am truly grateful to the Superior General, Br John Johnston, for having sent me the invitation to today's celebration, which I accepted, and I have consented to participate not just as "a cardinal" but as "an affiliated member" and as such belonging to the great Lasallian Family. I have been such since 1964, in the now distant time of the Superior General of the period, Frère Nicet Joseph, throughout the long years in which, besides other duties in the Vatican Secretariat of State, I exercised the service of resident chaplain for the Brothers and the students of Collegio San Giuseppe - Istituto De Merode in Rome. Those were peaceful and active years, of which I retain happy memories, feeling as a Brother among you Brothers, and it is for this reason also that I am delighted to take the opportunity given me today to thank everyone for the kindness with which I have always been received by the Community.

Another reason for particular pleasure is that I am present in this Generalate right at the time when the 43rd General Chapter is taking place, a Chapter which witnesses the gathering into one of the 128 Delegates, coming from all the Districts, and joined with these as Consultants, 20 lay Representatives of the great Lasallian Family. This is a rather significant extension, as is also the participation of a certain number of young Religious, to whom is offered the chance of coming to know at close hand so many situations and problems concerning the life and the activity of the Institute throughout the world, that they are going to have to confront in the years ahead with initiatives that take into account the profound changes which are affecting the structures of society and which will require new forms of collaboration with lay people.

To today's annual celebration of the Solemnity of the Holy Founder, we are adding this time the joyful occasion of the fortunate concurrence of two events that occurred in the preceding Jubilee years of 1900 and 1950. We have the centenary of his canonisation, performed by Leo XIII, plus the fiftieth anniversary of his proclamation as Patron of teachers and educators, performed by the Sovereign Pontiff Pius XII. By such gestures these Popes not just added for all the faithful of the Church and for sacred ministers a model of a priest sanctifying himself by the exercise of his apostolic ministry, but ensured for "those to whom is entrusted the care of young souls or who are preparing for this ministry" - such as the Brothers as also other persons similarly engaged - the intercession of a wise and experienced Pedagogue, stirring up their motivation so that they will carry out a task of such great responsibility with conscientiousness and enthusiasm.

The commemorative dates which occur from time to time in the life of the Church and of the ecclesial community, always offer the chance to glorify the Lord God for the life and witness of his Saints, and to seek to imitate them in the example of fidelity which they have given, confronting and overcoming the difficulties encountered. Today, in this sanctuary where the relics of the Holy Founder are venerated, as in all the centres and schools inspired by his charism, there arises a chorus of thanksgiving to the Lord for the work of evangelisation and human advancement accomplished by him, but also a fervent prayer that it may be said of you also, his sons and daughters, sent to youth as missionaries of the saving Word: "how beautiful are the feet of those who come bearing the joyful news of salvation". You know the many places where in his writings he affirms that "in the exercise of your ministry you are the ambassadors of Christ and his direct co-workers with the young people whom you educate", and he adds: "Live your vocation worthily! Be irreproachable in your conduct and present yourselves to your students as models of every virtue". It is for such a purpose that every Brothers is called to be, like the Saint, full of a solid and daring faith and of an effective charity, which will nourish your enthusiasm, and offer a base for trust and hope for the ultimate success of the daily and repetitive perform-ance of the work of education confided to you.

In earlier years when I was accustomed to assisting at perpetual professions of the Brothers, I noted just how many times the words: "to remain in the society",to be "associated",to keep, together and by "association" schools,to carry out whatever shall be required "by the Body of the society", were repeated in the formula of vows. In the mind of the Founder, these words are meant to indicate and stress very precisely, that all are to live together in stability, in order to develop, in full sharing of purpose, a mission which binds them in a clear-cut and inseparable manner. It is not a question here therefore of a short-term association, legally set up, and limited solely to attaining one aim amongst many others, but of an undertaking, linked to a solemn Act of Religion, as is the personal and total consecration to the Most Holy Trinity, understood as determining the direction and work of one's whole life. You are in fact dedicated to complete availability and stability in adhering to the Institute, through poverty, chastity and obedience such that there is no doubt remaining about the choice made by the Brothers. This choice is to consecrate yourselves entirely and without restriction to the education and the Christian formation of children and youth, more especially those to be found within the poorest sectors of the population.

The choice of these poor persons is an evangelical one. In the past and at present such persons in all types of societies are situated in conditions of material and moral disadvantage that hinder their human development with the risk of running grave dangers, of falling prey to vice or sinking into disorder. The Lasallian school, keenly aware of these situations and doing something about them over the course of the centuries for the good of these persons, has not merely in view an individual good deed or help to be given to just these persons, nor something limited to church society. It has supplied what is missing and given the appropriate education to so many families, civil society or the State in so many different places and times. The Lasallian school has offered assistance and collaboration which in so many ways is still occurring today even though this is not always perceived, recognised and appreciated, and sometimes even meeting with opposition.

Your Chapter has been called together, as with all those that have gone before it, in order to carry out a meticulous and peaceful evaluation of aspects concerning formation, organisation and effectiveness for the whole Institute. It aims to make the presence of the Brothers ever faithful to the image that Saint de La Salle wished to imprint on them. In fact the linked words "Poor-School", his preferred choice, have always been confirmed by the General Chapters as an unchanging constant, which has characterised your activities as teachers and formators, as it must continue to do. The social changes that have meanwhile taken place in the world, with the showy opulence of certain sectors and an aggravated consumerism, have not eliminated everywhere the negative aspects that still arouse today, the concerns which moved the Saint in his time. In many of the countries where you work, the omnipresent poverty of the people and the disastrous economic situation of the nation, without mentioning occasional natural calamities, put at great risk the survival of these people themselves, preventing the young generations from having access to schooling and guaranteed employment, and to a future more worthy of the dignity of the human condition.

Schools for the common people and the establishment of a group of well-trained teachers, were for Saint John Baptist de La Salle a way of making a concrete response to the words of Jesus promoting children, at a time when their dignity and their fragility were not much taken into consideration. By their simplicity children became for Jesus the self-evident reference-point for anyone seeking to enter the kingdom of God: whoever scandalises them commits a grave crime, whoever welcomes them, does so as if welcoming Jesus himself. In schools for the common people and in well-trained teachers, the saint saw the remedy for the problems appearing before his eyes, while in his writings and spoken recommendations made to the first Brothers, he never stopped insisting on love for the poor, seeing that the majority of the children being cared for were of humble condition - he used to say. The Brothers should be "visible angels" for them, accompanying them by both instruction and example, forming them to good behaviour and honesty. This too is the task for the lay partners who are performing their educational work in the Lasallian schools, as is already the practice and indeed a necessity in so many situations and circumstances.

Evidently the same goes too when Brothers are not in direct contact with students who are poor in the material or cultural sense, but with other categories of students in their higher schools or at university level. In these latter there can be found a poverty of religious awareness or a falsified perception of the teachings of the Christian faith, or a way of thinking filled with prejudices towards the Church and things connected with it. "It is not your function", he used to say, "to defend the truth of the faith in controversies with heretics, but your ministry obliges you to teach your students the good and wholesome doctrine of the Church". That is why the Saint, addressing the Brothers, used to say to them: "Your ministry has been instituted in order to obtain the spirit of religion and of Christianity for your students". From this he deduced the necessity for them "to study profoundly the truths of the faith", which today, with the multiplicity of ecclesial institutions set up for such studies, is certainly much easier now than it was in the time when he was speaking.

If the handing on of the faith, as the apostle Paul reminds us, "comes about by the Word of Christ", every preacher must be filled with and enlightened by it, as also by the presence of Jesus himself. Whoever cannot say as Paul himself did: "For me to live is Christ. I live my life in the faith in the Lord Jesus who has loved me and given himself for me.", is not speaking in his name and with his authority. Saint John Baptist de La Salle, who so acted as to bring about this intimate communion with Jesus by a life of grace, nourished by the celebration of the Eucharist, desires to promote it also amongst all his spiritual sons and daughters, Brothers, young students, teachers, partners and all the members of the great Lasallian Family. We can be certain that the intercession of their heavenly Patron will not fail them.